Susan in the Sixth

Melling School #5

by Margaret Biggs, Ruth Murrell (Illustrator)

Events have moved on, and Susan Blake is about to move into the Sixth Form, convinced that she will be head girl. There is of course no one else who could be suitable, but amazingly, Miss Pickering chooses Susan’s best friend, Laura Lacey, and this puts their friendship in serious danger, because Susan is both disappointed and resentful. It isn’t easy not to be friends, because it is during this term that the Blake and Lacey are preparing for the wedding of Helen Blake and Matthew Lacey. Back at Melling, Susan finds herself not even a success as an ordinary prefect, while she sees Laura, whom she has guided and protected through the years, grows confident and independent, gradually winning the respect of even the cheekiest junior. Luckily, and in time for the wedding, something happens so that Laura and Susan are friends again...

Genres: School Stories

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Born in 1929 in Orpington, Kent, Margaret Biggs was the daughter of a local Sales Manager for Chivers. Her family moved to Barnet, in Hertfordshire, in 1935, where she attended Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School until 1946. When she left school, she went to work for the editorial department of the Evans Brothers publishing company, in Bloomsbury. She married David Cadney in 1953, and moved with him to Finchley, and then (in the 1960s) to Solihull, in the West Midlands, where she still lives today. She has one daughter and two sons.

The author of a number of popular and collectible girls' school stories, Margaret Biggs is probably best known for her Melling School series, which is set at a weekly boarding school and is unusual, in that it shows boarding school life and home life side by side. The interaction between girls and boys is also atypical of the genre at that time.

Reviews

[Lady_bercilak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan was always a bit annoying in her bumptious confidence, so I was looking forward to this story about Susan coping with the disappointment of not being Head Girl as she had expected. I was saddened that Susan's pique at Laura's appointment to the Head Girl position made her abandon her long-standing friendship and championship of Laura. However, Margaret Biggs again showed her mastery of character development as we saw Susan work through her disappointment and become a better person. One of the highlights of this story is Helen's wedding.

[Emilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses mostly on the friendship between Susan and Laura as Laura, especially, seems to be changing. It is a god book but I missed the original characters as they didn't feature so much in this book, having grown up.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not very long but I really enjoyed this book.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

See Georgia’s review!