Having introduced the three Margaret Montforts in the initial book in her Margaret Series - first cousins with the same name, Margaret, Peggy and Rita Montfort all come to spend the summer at the ancestral family home, Fernley House, in Three Margarets - Laura E. Richards proceeds to the story of the eldest Margaret in this sequel, with the subsequent Peggy and Rita detailing the adventures of their respective heroines. Here we have Margaret, settling into her quiet new life at Fernley with Uncle John, and discovering that she has much to learn about keeping a home. Jolted out of her complacency by a conversation she overhears between the housekeeper and cook, Margaret resolves to become more involved in the household tasks, now that her beloved Aunt Faith, who once oversaw all such matters, has died. Her good resolutions are put to the test, however, and she discovers that it won't be an easy thing to become the mistress of Fernley, when the obnoxious Sophronia Montfort descends upon the house, claiming that it is her duty to "make a home" for her Cousin John. Margaret and her Uncle John do the best they can to carry on, despite the many annoyances created by their officious new house guest, with her predilection for giving unwanted advice, and for snooping around; and then providence (with a helpful hand from Uncle John) intervenes, in the form of three young cousins - Basil, Merton and Susan D. - whose arrival at Fernley heralds a new period of drama and excitement...

Every bit as engaging as the first entry in the series, Margaret Montfort may feature an unnaturally virtuous young heroine - Margaret is all unworldly retirement, gentle and lady-like, with a scholarly bent that makes her an ideal companion for Uncle John - but the odious Sophronia, the boisterous Basil and Susan D., and the duplicitous Merton, all make for an interesting contrast, in the character department. Cousin Sophronia, in particular, is the kind of character that one loves to hate, and reading about her eventual downfall, at the hands of those young terrors, is quite entertaining! I was somewhat less entertained by the depiction of Merton, as Margaret and Uncle John seem to wash their hands of him, at the close of the story. Dishonesty is a significant character flaw, I grant you, but a twelve-year-old hardly seems beyond reform. On another note, I was really quite interested to see a character from Richards' Hildegarde Series turn up here - I knew that the two series were interrelated, but was under the impression that the connection did not occur until later titles - in the form of Gerald Merryweather, who first appeared as a young teenager in Hildegarde's Neighbors, and is a twenty-one-year-old engineer in Margaret Montfort. I look forward to seeing more crossovers between the series!

In sum: an enjoyable follow-up to the first book, and a pleasant read in its own right. Readers with a taste for vintage girls' fiction ala L.M. Montgomery or Louisa May Alcott should give Laura E. Richards a try! ( )