I was delighted when I saw this book was being released. I devoured book one in the series, Rules for Ruin, and ended that review with a note about how I was looking forward to the couple I guessed would be in the next book. I was delighted to be right!
Nell is one of the earliest cohorts at Miss Corvus’ school and when she was younger, she felt destined for great things. But a fall in her tween years left her with a permanent limp and a desire to only ever be a teacher at the school. In Rules for Ruin, she makes it clear the school is her world, but in The Marriage Method she takes her first step into the real world proper.
Miles is the editor-in-chief of The Courant, a London paper looking for a big story to improve their circulation numbers. He has deep suspicions about Miss Corvus’ school and Nell is dispatched to his offices in London to answer his questions without revealing anything of what actually happens at the school. The school believes in preparing girls for the real world which includes things like learning self-defence, how to pick locks and the like. If this were widely known, the school would be shut down in scandal.
Miles has a penchant for saving stray cats and it is a stray cat that serves as Miles and Nell’s undoing. As with all of Miss Corvus’ girls, Nell wears a wire crinoline. The cat Miles is currently trying to tame gets tangled in the crinoline and the only way to free her is for Miles to expose her legs to the knee (gasp!) and untangle the cat. OF COURSE, as they are doing this, the reverend who is connected to the parish in which the school is based walks in on them with Miles’ assistant in tow. Ruin!
Incidentally, I found it difficult to believe that an animal could get tied up in a crinoline, but there is an author’s note at the end sharing that there are a number of newspaper articles from the time in which small animals became tangled in crinolines – a persistent problem, it seems!
Miles proposes marriage and Nell accepts. It’s not supposed to be a love match, but right from the start this couple are so gentle with each other. It’s absolute bliss to read. With each small reveal of her delicate underbelly, Miles meets her with kindness, support and gentleness. It’s exquisite. Similarly, as Nell gets to know Miles, she sees beyond the stern exterior to the loyal, caring man beneath. It gave me the warm fuzzies in the best way.
Our couple from Rules for Ruin makes a cameo appearance, as do a few other characters from previous Mimi Matthews books not in this series. It’s not enough to mean that you couldn’t read this as a standalone necessarily, but I would definitely recommend reading them in order. We also have a glimpse of the potential next couple in the series: a teacher at the school and a police inspector. I’m intrigued!
If the story were just a couple falling in love with each other by tender steps, it would still be good, but there are two intertwined mystery plots to solve which make it great. First, a girl travelling to Miss Corvus’ school disappears on her way there. Nell needs to find out what happened to her. Second, one of Miles’ reporters is missing and he needs to find him. Incidentally, the two stories intersect in a surprising, but plausible way. Miles and Nell engage in high-jinks to solve the two mysteries while being (sort of) sensible about involving the police. I found the plot around the missing newspaper reporter particularly compelling and there are some wonderfully tense moments as the truth is revealed.
In keeping with the series, this book features women with a feminist outlook operating in a decidedly patriarchal world. Nell speaks openly and frankly about how marriage is detrimental to women’s freedom. So yes, Miles and Nell are forced by circumstances to marry, but the foundation of that marriage is a partnership of equals.
If you’re looking for a book that has tender love at its core set in a good mystery with lashings of feminism in Victorian England, then this book will more than surpass your expectations. I wait with bated breath for the next book in the series.