One thing people seem to have missed here is that the whole situation is described from the perspective of the new wife. Who's to say that the daughter doesn't blame her father for the break-up?

I doubt the veracity of the step-mom's version of events and consider her to be a very cruel person who should have been reprimanded by Prudie for her behavior. She knows her husband's daughter wants nothing to do with her or her children yet she brings her handicapped son to her husband's daughter's house??? She had to expect one of two things. Either she expected sympathy from the daughter for the plight of her son and for that to break the ice between them, or she expected the daughter to act just as she did and now she point out how terrible the daughter is acting. (Or maybe the woman is just an idiot.)

I also don't understand why some people seem to think the father gets to decide who he has a relationship with and how deep that relationship will be, but the daughter doesn't have that same right. The father gets to enter into a relationship that is going to cause tension between him and his daughter, but the daughter doesn't get to stay out of a relationship because it will cause tension between her and her father.

I have always said, since the day my parents divorced, that children of divorce pay the price for their parents' new found happiness and peace. Now I see people think that the children of divorce should continue paying the price long into adulthood. At some point, the parents need to start picking up the tab.

As for the new wife not sounding like a monster, aside from being a big enough monster to bring her poor son into a situation where she knew he would feel unwelcome, the biggest monsters seem like nice people. Looks can be deceiving although in this case, it should be obvious that the new wife is a callous monster.