Merry (Rosemerryn) Arundel returns to Tremayne School for a second term in this sequel to Clare Mallory's Merry Begins, and soon she and her friends in Dormitory Ten have their hands full with the new girl, Holly Stafford. Raised by an overindulgent grandmother, Holly had never been to school, and was used to doing much as she pleased. She couldn't see the point of many school rules, and she often clashed with authority, whether exerted by the prefects or the staff. She had no interest in Sennen, her school house, and her rule-breaking looked as if it would ruin their chances of winning the house championship. For all her flaws, Holly had her good points, being both generous and honest, and eventually, through the good influence of Merry and the other 'Bups' (members of the 'back up Pauline' society), as well as some of the prefects and staff, she came to find her place at Tremayne...

Much like its predecessor, Merry Again belies its name, being as concerned with the school at large, as with its eponymous heroine's experiences. If anything, this second story is largely taken up with Holly's travails, as she makes a bad start at school, and must slowly learn her lesson. There were aspects of this process that I found distasteful at times, and many moments were I was in sympathy with Holly's rebellion against what seemed, at least to her, to be pointless regulations and arbitrary authority. On the other hand, there were times where I grew impatient with her stubborn insistence on her own way, and her willful rudeness when her will was checked. I appreciated the fact that Clare Mallory managed to convincingly portray both sides of Holly, and that she demonstrated, through the sub-plot involving Anne, that sometimes authority is inappropriately applied, albeit not in the way that Holly would object to. As with Merry Begins, I enjoyed the fact that the reader gets to share multiple perspectives here, rather than just that of the titular character. Recommended to anyone who read and enjoyed the first book in this series. ( )