The Mereland Chronicles: The Crier – More than you think.
Spoiler Alert! This blog contains clues, well strong hints, about the plot. Proceed with curiosity!
The English Lake District is a land of stories, whispers, and echoes of a past that never truly fades. Beneath its rolling hills and mirror-like waters lie places of wonder, some ancient, others lost to time. In The Mereland Chronicles: The Crier, these locations are more than just settings; they are vessels of history, mystery, and perhaps even something supernatural.
Renowned for its breathtaking landscapes, the Lake District is one of the most popular holiday destinations in the UK, attracting millions of visitors each year who come to explore its fells, lakes, and historic sites. From serene boat rides on lake Windermere to hikes across the rugged peaks, the region offers both tranquility and adventure. But beneath its beauty lies a rich tapestry of folklore, including one of its most enigmatic legends – the Claife Crier.
Unusually, this spectral presence is the only ghostly entity recorded on Ordnance Survey maps, a fact as strange as the tale itself, and the very detail that first piqued my interest. The legend speaks of a ghostly figure, a monk wailing across Windermere from the heights of Claife, his cries chilling the blood of those who hear them. A mere glimpse of him is said to drive a person to madness.
The tale, in its many versions, centres around a broken-hearted monk, forever calling for a lost love – the woman who jilted him. Little is known about her, only that she was beautiful enough to tempt a man of faith into forsaking his vows. Some versions of the legend suggest she was a local maiden, others that she was a traveller passing through. Was she cruel, deliberately toying with his devotion? Or was she simply unaware of his obsession?
In The Mereland Chronicles: The Crier, I explore what might have led to the legend, creating a backstory rather than a retelling. It’s often said that legends are rooted in truth, embellished over time but never entirely without foundation. But what if they are not mere superstition? What would that mean for the world we think we know?
Henry, the devoted monk, and Hannah, the enigmatic outsider, find themselves stepping onto the game board of Mereland, unwitting players in something much larger than themselves.
My narrative shifts the focus. No longer is the woman who turned a monk’s head a nameless catalyst, a footnote in the tale. She is at its very heart.
SPOILER! But are the events that unfold merely coincidence, or is something far older setting them into motion? Is Hannah’s arrival merely an accident?
The journey within the pages of The Mereland Chronicles is not just one of love, loss, adventure, and longing, it is something far greater. The ancient merges with the present, and the future is drawn into the past. Like roots beneath our feet, long-forgotten forces stir once more.
In The Mereland Chronicles, the novel explores the idea that existence moves to rhythms ancient and unyielding, on a timescale far removed from human perception. While mankind builds, conquers, and consumes, something far older watches. Yet, for all their achievements, humankind remains oblivious to the world around them, not because it is hidden, but because they have forgotten how to listen.
Like a school of fish, humans exist in a world they perceive as complete, unaware of the vastness beyond their limited sight. They mistake their small pocket of understanding for the whole of existence, blind to the deeper truths lurking just out of reach.
Humans have existed for only a fleeting moment, and from another perspective, their presence amounts to nothing more than the blink of an eye. By this measure, anything humankind has done over the past few centuries would have only just come to the attention of those who might take issue with it. After all, an itch can only be scratched once it is noticed.
And so, the question at the heart of The Mereland Chronicles series (The Crier being book 1) is not merely one of fate or love lost, it is this: When the cycle completes and rhythms, like the endless beating of a drum, reassert themselves once more, what happens next?
The Mereland Chronicles: The Crier is not simply a tale of lost love and sorrow, it is the beginning of something much larger. A ripple across history, shaping what is to come.
The Mereland Chronicles: The Crier – Coming 2025 – See here for latest news.
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PJ Scribbans Author 