It's summer term at Tremayne School, just outside the New Zealand city of Dunedin, and Merry Arundel, her best friend Hildreth Ballantyne, and all of the rest of the girls in Dormitory Ten are looking forward to an exciting conclusion to the school year. The Bups - members of the 'back up Pauline' society - are more eager than ever to make sure that Sennen House is on top, so that Pauline, their house captain, has a chance of being chosen as Head Girl for the next school year. Unfortunately, the arrival of four new girls, all placed in form IIIA, and all members of Sennen, endangers this plan. The athletic Jo Carslake, the daughter of a famous 'Old Girl,' had come all the way from Australia to attend Tremayne, and is soon popular with the other girls. So too is shy Innes Beverley, who excels in music, playing her violin and composing tunes. Standoffish Karen Lane and snobbish Madeline Courtland prove less of an addition, particularly when Madeline becomes jealous of the more talented Innes, and begins to mark her out in a sly campaign of sabotage. As the term progresses, the Treymayne girls are caught up in Diana Ballantyne's campaign to raise money for a school swimming pool, and all sorts of extracurricular fundraising efforts, from concerts to candy-making, are indulged in. Eventually, after much hard work, and not a little drama, the term comes to a close in the most satisfactory way...

I enjoyed Merry Marches On every bit as much as its predecessors, Merry Begins and Merry Again, and only wish that Clare Mallory had continued the series. The final line of my copy mentions a fourth book in preparation, but Tremayne's Trans Tasman never appears to have come to fruition, which is a real shame. This trilogy was my first exposure to Clare Mallory's work, but I certainly hope it will not be my last! I am indebted to my friend Emily - many thanks, Emily! - for loaning me her copies, as they were never published here in the states, and can be difficult to track down. Much as with the earlier books, I appreciated the fact that the story here focuses on multiple characters and groups of girls, from the eponymous Merry and her immediate circle, to Pauline and her fellow Seniors. The sub-plot involving Madeline and her malicious campaign against Innes was quite interesting, in that the former is initially set up as the classic schoolgirl bully - just a mean, shallow girl - but is revealed in the end to be suffering from some sort of mental illness. The specifics are not mentioned, but Head Girl Claudia tells Merry that Madeline is to be withdrawn from school for medical reasons, rather than expelled, and that she is being sent to a 'special' kind of doctor, called a psychiatrist. Quite unusual, in this sort of book! Leaving that aside, I found this a delightful conclusion to the trilogy (despite my wish that it had been more than a trilogy), and loved everything about it, from the characters to the general storyline, to the specific escapades. The secret candy-making session was a favorite, and made my mouth water! Highly recommended to anyone who read and enjoyed Merry Begins and Merry Again. ( )