Kate at Melling is set about twelve years after Susan in the Sixth. Kate, daughter of Helen and Matthew Lacey, is not sure that she wants to go to Melling. It does not matter that her mother and aunts were so happy there, she is shy and uncertain of herself, and hates the thought of living away from home. But her parents feel she needs a little gentle pushing out into the world, so Kate sets off to Melling. Her aunt Libby is also starting at Melling this term, as the new maths teacher, but it is still difficult. Her form teacher, Miss Mann, also new, is not sympathetic to Kate’s troubles. Where did she lose her pocket money? Can she be friends with Becky, who is so prickly because her dad works for Kate’s father? Gradually Kate settles down, helped by the loving warmth of her family as she returns at weekends, and the sometimes unwise interventions of her uncle Phil. The end of term brings some happy surprises, both for Kate herself, and also for the Blake and Lacey families.