Milly Lynn knew that she was something of a "rabbit," more inclined to hide from embarrassment and trouble, than to confront it openly. Her parents may have named her Camilla, but she was no Amazon queen! But her growing friendship with Jan (Janet) Kempe - the new girl at Myra Dakin's girls' school - soon involved her in a number of confrontations with the other girls in the fifth form. Whether defending Jan from accusations of not caring about the school, because she wouldn't participate in games, or insisting that she could not have been guilty of stealing money from the form sale, Milly soon discovered that being a friend involved some real worry. Meanwhile, Jan's brother Barney had run into trouble at the bank where he was working. Were the Kempe siblings more trouble than they were worth...?

The second of Evelyn Smith's books set at Myra Dakin's, Milly in the Fifth is only the most nominal of sequels to Val Forrest in the Fifth. The setting is the same, but although many of the characters from the first book - both students and teachers - are mentioned here, they never really make an appearance, and the two stories can each stand on their own. But for all that the relationship between them is so tenuous, it is still natural to compare the two, and I couldn't help feeling that this was not the equal of the first. I found Milly a weaker heroine than Val: pleasant and thoughtful enough, but lacking in decision, even when roused to indignation. The subplot involving the contretemps at Barney's bank was rather melodramatic, and could easily have been omitted. All in all, I found this to be a pleasant read, but by no means the best of Smith's work. ( )