I’ve read several of Mimi Matthews’s Victorian-era romance novels, starting with The Lost Letter. I even hosted a written interview with her on my old blog when that book came out. Although she’s something of a publishing phenom, meaning that I can’t keep up with her output given how many other novels I go through for the New Books Network and beyond, when I do have time to read purely for pleasure, hers never disappoint.
The Muse of Maiden Lane is the fourth in Matthews’s Belles of London series. Stella Hobhouse has watched her three close friends—Eve, Julia, and Anne—find the perfect husbands for them despite their failure to satisfy the strictly pastel expectations of Victorian London. For hints at how Stella finds her own path to happiness, read on.
This is the fourth in your Belles of London series. What can you tell us, briefly, about the previous three books?
My Belles of London series is about four bold Victorian-era equestriennes who meet and become friends during the course of several unsuccessful London seasons.
Book 1, The Siren of Sussex, is the story of Evelyn Maltravers, a country girl who comes to London to find a wealthy husband. She enlists habit maker Ahmad Malik to help her achieve her goal. Through a series of fittings, they become friends and, ultimately, more.
Book 2, The Belle of Belgrave Square, is Julia Wychwood’s story. Julia is a terminally shy, novel-reading heiress at the mercy of her cruel parents. When she meets the notorious, battle-scarred former war hero Captain Jasper Blunt, she proposes a marriage of convenience to save herself—and he accepts!
Book 3, The Lily of Ludgate Hill, is Lady Anne Deveril’s story. Anne broke off an engagement to Felix Hartford several years before the story begins, but Hartford is determined to win her back at all costs.
The final book is The Muse of Maiden Lane. It’s silver-haired Stella’s story, and her hero is Teddy Hayes, a charismatic, early Impressionist artist who wants to paint her portrait.
How did this group of women become friends, and why did they choose to call themselves the Four Horsewomen?
Stella, Evelyn, Anne, and Julia are four very talented equestriennes. They meet and become friends through horseback riding. They don’t call themselves the Four Horsewomen. This was a teasing name given to them by Felix Hartford, Lady Anne’s former beau. Before Evelyn joined the group, he called them the Three Furies.
The heroine of the latest installment is Stella Hobhouse. How would you describe her, and what gives her problems in the marriage market?
Stella has prematurely gray hair, which has made life exceedingly difficult for her in terms of attracting a husband. She’s also a skilled equestrienne, an excellent sketch artist, and a steadfast friend. None of which is very helpful on the London marriage mart (or living in the country, under the thumb of her overbearing brother).
Teddy Hayes is not, at first glance, the typical romantic hero. What can you tell us about him?
Teddy developed a secondary infection after a bout of scarlet fever that left him confined to a wheelchair. He struggles with mobility issues in a time when few accommodations existed. But Teddy doesn’t shrink into himself. He’s outspoken and opinionated, and relentless when it comes to getting what he wants. Teddy is also part of the early Impressionist movement. At the beginning of the story, he’s recently returned from France after studying at the studio of artist Charles Gleyre. When Teddy sees Stella, he recognizes her at once as his muse.
What brings Stella and Teddy together, in your view? What is it, in each of them, that meets the needs of the other?
Both Stella and Teddy are outsiders, partially by choice and partially by circumstance. They recognize this in each other—the need for acceptance and belonging, even as they resist conforming to society’s rules.
There are passing references, in this novel, to a previous series of yours, the Parish Orphans of Devon. What is the connection?
Teddy Hayes is the younger brother of one of the heroines from that series. He first appeared in A Convenient Fiction (Parish Orphans of Devon, Book 3). He was a huge fan favorite!
Is this the end of the Belles of London series? And if so, what is next in store for you?
It is the end, sadly. I only envisioned the Belles of London as a four-book series. I’m working on my new Crinoline Academy series now. It’s about a Victorian girls’ orphanage with a mysterious purpose. The first book, Rules for Ruin, will be out in May 2025!
Thank you for answering my questions!
Mimi Matthews is the author of almost twenty novels and two nonfiction books set in or about nineteenth-century Britain. The Muse of Maiden Lane is her latest novel. Find out more about her at https://www.mimimatthews.com. And for a previous Q&A on my old blog not long after she published The Lost Letter, see http://blog.cplesley.com/2018/01/interview-with-mimi-matthews.html.
Photograph of Mimi Matthews and horse © 2021 Vickie Hahn; reused with permission from Berkley Publishing Group.