THE first novel by a local author is being launched in a Malvern bookshop on Saturday, April 21.

Valerie M Walland will be at Beacon Books, Worcester Road, at 11am with her book Ever Whirling Wheels, published by Silverdale Books.

It tells the turbulent and intriguing story of a young girl's struggles against a stifling, male-dominated Victorian society which is only slowly and reluctantly coming to terms with the idea of women working, even in respectable employment.

Central to the plot is Amelia, the youngest child of a wealthy business-owning family, and Rose, her maid who becomes her trusted companion.

Within the family business, romance and dark forces are at work, resulting in tragic and threatening consequences.

Mrs Walland, who has lived in Malvern with her husband for 25 years, lectured for many years in business studies at Worcester Tech.

She said: "I've been writing since I was six; the first thing I wrote was a story about a fairy trapped down a well.

"When I was working, I put writing to one side because I felt my students ought to come first. But since I retired, I took it up again."

The research and writing for Ever Whirling Wheels took between three-and-a-half and four years.

Mrs Walland said: "It suddenly struck me that with all the changes that are happening in the world today, it is very similar to how things were changing back then. I wanted to show what it was like for ordinary people."

And she is bringing the same idea to her next book, but in a very different historical context.

Provisionally entitled I, Marcus, it is set in the Roman world of 55-54BC - the time of Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain - and the action takes place in Rome, the Bay of Naples and Britain.

"It has been another big research job," said Mrs Walland.

"One of the hazards of research is that you will read lots of books and get to work, then read one more book which tells you something new and you have to go back and unpick what you've just written."

She hopes to have finished the new novel by the end of the year, but for now, Ever Whirling Wheels is available from Beacon Books.