Talking LocationWith … Victoria Scott – MALVERN

8th July 2022

Talking location with… Victoria Scott, author of Grace: Malvern, Worcestershire

When I was writing the outline of my second novel, Grace, I knew immediately what my two protagonists, Michelle and Amelia, would have in common. Despite having two incredibly different upbringings, both of them grew up in the Malvern Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty – and, as it happens, where I spent my own childhood.

Author at the topos cope

Like me, Michelle and Amelia both find peace on the old sheep tracks which become overgrown with bracken in the summer mothers, and have felt both achievement and an endorphin surge leaning on the Victorian toposcope at the peak of the Worcestershire Beacon.

In the novel, these two women are locked in a battle with social services which neither of them want for a baby called Grace, who was removed from Michelle at birth, and whom social services have place with Amelia with a view to adoption.

The relationship and courtroom drama that ensues is carried out with the Malvern Hills as a constant backdrop, with the glorious music of Worcestershire’s famous son, Edward Elgar, chiming in with regularity.

Malvern has been attracting tourists to take its famous waters and climb its hills since at least the 17th century, but it was the Victorians who really took the area to their hearts. Malvern was transformed by their building of two new railway stations, and the hotels, restaurants and new shopping parades to complement them. Their beautiful red brick designs, seen most notably in Great Malvern station and its adjoining hotel (my old school, now Malvern St James) are gorgeous.

However, it is Malvern Priory that really has my heart. Originally built in the 11th century, and a survivor of the dissolution of its adjoining monastery, it is a stunning building with a very special atmosphere. The Priory is almost a character in Grace, hosting a fictional foodbank, a Christmas fair and a school carol service. It was a natural choice for me, because the Priory is very much at the centre of Malvern, geographically and metaphorically. I spend time there every time I visit my parents, and I hope that I’ve captured some of its magic for the book.

Talking of magic – I discovered on my most recent visit that the Priory’s East door was the inspiration for the wardrobe in CS Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. This is a brilliant coincidence, because despite not knowing this, I compare a snow-covered Priory, with its old-style gas lamps in the churchyard, with Narnia in Grace.

I really hope that reading Grace encourages readers to explore the Malvern area; it’s a special spot, well off the well-trodden modern tourist trail, just waiting for you to discover its magic for yourselves.

Grace by Victoria Scott is publishing in Hardback on 7th July by Aria, imprint of Head of Zeus, priced at £20.

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