The title and cover of this first story will remain
under wraps until a later date, but it can be revealed that the
book is set ten years before The Golden Compass and centers
on the much-loved character Lyra and her daemon
Pantalaimon.
Philip Pullman offers these tantalizing details: “I’ve always wanted to tell the story of how Lyra
came to be living at Jordan College, and in thinking about it, I discovered a long story that
began when she was a baby and will end when she’s grown up. This volume and the next will
cover two parts of Lyra’s life: starting at the beginning of her story and returning to her twenty
years later. As for the third and final part, my lips are sealed.
The books of the His Dark Materials trilogy were showered with praise, and the Cincinnati
Enquirer proclaimed, “Pullman has created the last great fantasy masterpiece of the twentieth
century.” With The Book of Dust, Philip Pullman embarks on an equally grand adventure, sure
to be hailed as the first great fantasy masterpiece of the twenty-first century.