• Age: 18
• Grade: 12

Young lawyer Mary Clark is asked to handle the estate of a wealthy friend. Her integrity is called into question and she is charged with fraud. Set in Ottawa and area in 1966, this is a suspenseful legal drama and a satisfying romance.

Yvette Ward MacDonald's profile page

Dedicated to learning, engagement, and community service, Yvette forged a career grounded in the spirit of altruism and leadership. She attended Maillet College, a private girls' school, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Carleton University. Proficient in both French and English, she expanded her knowledge through courses in accounting, interior decorating, and public speaking. Yvette's commitment extends to fourteen years of piano study, demonstrating her lifelong dedication to growth and achievement. A stalwart in community service, Yvette co-founded Cornwall Youth Residence, offering refuge to teenagers from dysfunctional families. Serving as president of the Arnprior & District Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, she oversaw a volunteer team, earning an outstanding achievement award. Additionally, she co-founded the Wolfville and Area Newcomers Club and the Ottawa Valley Music Festival, a summer-long celebration of classical music spanning the Ottawa Valley for over twenty-five years. Yvette actively contributed to various clubs, taught curling to children, and served as a board member for organizations such as the Victoria Order of Nurses, her local District Memorial Hospital, and performing art series. From volunteering as a Cub Mother to leading bicycle trips for the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, Yvette consistently champions community involvement. She embodies the belief that learning, active participation, and community service are the pillars of a fulfilling and successful life. For her, writing has now become an additional journey, offering a canvas to delve into the depths of the life she has lived and uncover its inner meanings. Honour Above All is her debut publication.

In Honour Above All we peek behind the curtain of the wealthy families and ambitious lawyers of 1960s Ottawa. Mary Clark is equal parts bold and naïve in a time when the odds are stacked against women lawyers. How does she come by such an iron resolve? What hides in her murky past? A story layered with family trauma, it builds to a courtroom battle that challenges Mary’s ethics at every turn. Can she uphold her client’s wishes without losing everything she holds sacred? A legal drama with a dash of romance set in Mad Men–era Ottawa, you’ll be transported to a leather chair by the open hearth with a glass of good Scotch, reading into the night. - Nicola Davison, author of In the Wake, winner of the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award

An Ottawa setting in the sixties, a young lawyer named Mary Clark struggling for a niche in a male-dominated field, a rich businessman’s will contested by his two unscrupulous children, and a mysterious trunk: these are some of the ingredients of Honour Above All. Add to these a thoughtful exploration of what it means to have integrity, Mary’s suspense-ridden trial for fraud, a dash or two of romance, and you’re ready to put your feet up and turn to page one of Yvette MacDonald’s debut novel.

- Jill MacLean, award-winning author of The Arrows of Mercy

Honour Above All is an amazing debut novel that could be a script for a movie, a courtroom drama. By itself, it is a primer on Estate and Probate law, with all the potential pitfalls that could befall a lawyer, culminating in dramatic courtroom testimony. Law schools, law libraries, should purchase it to use as an effective learning vehicle. Persuasive evidence that law and love can be complicated. Well done, Yvette Ward MacDonald! - Alexander (Sandy) MacKinnon, LL.B.