La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust Series #1)

by Philip Pullman

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Philip Pullman returns to the parallel world of His Dark Materials to expand on the story of Lyra, “one of fantasy’s most indelible heroines” (The New York Times Magazine).

Don’t miss Volume II of The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth!

Malcolm Polstead and his daemon, Asta, are used to overhearing news and the occasional scandal at the inn run by his family. But during a winter of unceasing rain, Malcolm finds a mysterious object—and finds himself in grave danger.

Inside the object is a cryptic message about something called Dust; and it’s not long before Malcolm is approached by the spy for whom this message was actually intended. When she asks Malcolm to keep his eyes open, he begins to notice suspicious characters everywhere: the explorer Lord Asriel, clearly on the run; enforcement agents from the Magisterium; a gyptian named Coram with warnings just for Malcolm; and a beautiful woman with an evil monkey for a daemon. All are asking about the same thing: a girl—just a baby—named Lyra.
 
Lyra is at the center of a storm, and Malcolm will brave any peril, and make shocking sacrifices, to bring her safely through it.
 
“Too few things in our world are worth a seventeen-year wait: The Book of Dust is one of them.” —The Washington Post

“The book is full of wonder. . . . Truly thrilling.” —The New York Times

“People will love the first volume of Philip Pullman’s new trilogy with the same helpless vehemence that stole over them when The Golden Compass came out.” —Slate

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553510720
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	10/19/2017
Series:	Book of Dust Series , #1
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

PHILIP PULLMAN is one of the most acclaimed writers working today. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly. He has also won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted “Carnegie of Carnegies” for the best children’s book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for The Amber Spyglass; a Booker Prize long-list nomination (The Amber Spyglass); Parents’ Choice Gold Awards (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work. In 2004, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. 
 
Philip Pullman is the author of many other much-lauded novels. Three volumes related to His Dark Materials: Lyra’s Oxford, Once Upon a Time in the North, and The Collectors. For younger readers: I Was a Rat!; Count Karlstein; Two Crafty Criminals; Spring-Heeled Jack; and The Scarecrow and His Servant. For older readers: the Sally Lockhart quartet (The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, and The Tin Princess); The White Mercedes; and The Broken Bridge.
 
Philip Pullman lives in Oxford, England. To learn more, please visit philip-pullman.com or follow him on facebook at Philip Pullman author, and on Twitter at @PhilipPullman.

Hometown:

Oxford, England

Date of Birth:

October 19, 1946

Place of Birth:

Norwich, England

Education:

Exeter College, Oxford University

Website:

http://www.philip-pullman.com/

Read an Excerpt

Eleven-year-old Malcolm lives with his parents at the Trout Inn near Oxford, across the river Thames from Godstow Priory, where the nuns are looking after a special guest. One night his father comes to Malcolm’s bedroom.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage (Book of Dust, Volume 1)"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Philip Pullman.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

"Reading this novel is like standing in a room in which suddenly all of the windows have blown open at once." —Slate 

"It's a stunning achievement, the universe Pullman has created and continues to build on." —The New York Times

"A phantasmagoric waterborne odyssey. Mr. Pullman is a supple and formidable writer." —The Wall Street Journal 

"Enthralling, enchanting. The first half reads like a thriller. The story becomes darker, deeper and even more engrossing when a cataclysmic flood overtakes Southern England. Too few things in our world are worth a seventeen year wait: The Book of Dust is one of them." — The Washington Post

"Pullman's writing is as deftly brilliant as ever. A triumphant return to the alternate Oxford we love."—Bustle

"The Book of Dust passes by in one tumultuous wave of literature, that leaves you queasy, but wanting the next volume as quickly as possible. It deserves not only a reread, but an unpacking. It is not a one and done novel, something that, in a time where binging and passing is the status quo. This is a novel to digest. One to take in, let settle, and then revisit. We are lucky to have Pullman's words. Words that will continue to nourish the souls and imaginations of readers for a long, long time." —Hypable

"Once again, Pullman’s fantasy arrives precisely when it can teach us the most about ourselves, as if it were guided by Dust itself." —Entertainment Weekly

"High-octane adventure accompanies ingenious plotting." —The Times (London)

"Lyra Silvertongue, Lyra Belacqua, but really just Lyra: one of those characters—Pip, Emma, Lolita—who is on first-name terms with her public."—The New York Times Magazine

"Pullman's imagery is as dazzling as ever. La Belle Sauvage reveals the incredible ways in which 'ordinary' children can react whenplaced in extraordinary circumstances: with kindness, bravery and cunning." —The Bookseller

"A rollicking adventure. Delightful." —Mother Jones

"A stunning, otherworldly journey. La Belle Sauvage dives deeply into magic and intrigue. What a gift it is to be allowed back into this universe." —BuzzFeed

"Full of acute observation. A rich, imaginative, vividly characterized rite-of-passage tale." —London Sunday Times

"Thrilling and thought-provoking." —Times Literary Supplement 

"A singularly beguiling work of fantasy. [Pullman is] perhaps the best fantasy writer alive." —The A.V. Club

"A profoundly compelling foundation for a new trilogy." —Vox

"This tense, adventure-packed book will satisfy and delight Pullman's fans and leave them eager to see what's yet to come" —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Pullman is an easeful storyteller and an intricate and inventive world-builder, and everything he has to write is worth reading." —The Telegraph

"Magisterial storytelling will sweep readers along; the cast is as vividly drawn as ever; and big themes running beneath the surface invite profound responses and reflection." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Luminous prose, heady philosophical questions, and a lovable protagonist combine with a gripping plot sure to enchant fans and newcomers alike." —SLJ, starred review

"Pullman demonstrates that his talent for world building hasn’t diminished, nor has his ability to draw young characters—here, Malcolm, who is layered enough to carry an adventure through multiple dimensions." —Booklist, starred review

"Pullman's immense powers of kinesthetic visualization keep the story pulsing on an epic scale."—The Guardian

"An immersive, creepy, edge-of-your seat adventure." —Shelf Awareness

"To connect once more with a fictional universe of such great power is a delight." —Financial Times

From the Publisher

★ 10/23/2017
For more than 15 years, fans of the His Dark Materials trilogy have longed to return to the world Pullman created. Now, finally, begins a new trilogy, the Book of Dust, that again immerses readers in a thrilling alternate landscape of animal daemons, truth-revealing alethiometers, and the mysterious particle known as Dust. Lyra, the beloved heroine of the original books, is just a baby; 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead is the hero this time, and a worthy one. Malcolm helps out at his family's inn in Oxford and at the priory where Lyra—sought by her mother, Mrs. Coulter (younger but no less chilling than in the His Dark Materials books), and her father, Lord Asriel—is being cared for by nuns. Inquisitive and observant, Malcolm gets involved with scholar-spy Dr. Hannah Relf and meets (and adores) baby Lyra. But free thinkers are at war with the oppressive religious regime, and everyone wants control of Lyra, who is "destined to put an end to destiny." Amid the roaring waters of a historic flood, Malcolm and his daemon, Asta, attempt to keep Lyra safe, braving kidnappers, government enforcers, murderers, and classmates who, chillingly, are being trained to turn in those perceived to be disloyal to the regime. Fortunately, he has a fleet canoe, the Belle Sauvage of the title, and help from Alice, a cranky and courageous 16-year-old. The new characters are as lively and memorable as their predecessors; despite a few heavy-handed moments regarding the oppressiveness of religion, this tense, adventure-packed book will satisfy and delight Pullman's fans and leave them eager to see what's yet to come. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

There’s something pleasingly old-fashioned about Michael Sheen’s narration, which is matched by the pleasure of returning to Pullman’s world of daemons and Dust. Sheen fully inhabits the text, and he’s utterly believable as 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead, who meets baby Lyra (heroine of Pullman’s His Dark Materials series) and embarks on a perilous adventure to protect her from the myriad forces that have designs on her. Sheen ramps up the tense urgency during frightening action sequences, making palpable all of the danger and terror, and his rendition of the eerie, alarming laugh of a hyena daemon is sure to unnerve listeners. It’s a rip-roaring start to Pullman’s new trilogy, and fans will be impatient to dive into the next installment. J.M.D. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2017 - AudioFile

★ 2017-10-19
Pullman's return to the realms of His Dark Materials moves the timeline back to Lyra's infancy with a tale of young people struggling against outsized forces of both nature and evil.It's a story in two parts, as the author devotes nearly the entire first half to a slow buildup of tension around a certain baby recently consigned to the indulgent sisters of a nearby priory, to setting the cast in place, and to the founding of a network of student informants dubbed the "League of St. Alexander" (after an early convert who consigned his pagan parents to the flames—it's clear the author continues to wield his anything-but-subtle knife on organized Christianity). Then, impelled by a devastating flood and the attentions of a sinister stranger with a horribly wounded, abused hyena for a daemon, 11-year-old Malcolm Pollstead undertakes a desperate rescue. He bundles the laughing infant into his canoe (named La Belle Sauvage) along with teenage acquaintance Alice Parslow. The terrifying hazards they encounter are natural, unnatural, and even supernatural. The rescue becomes a long flight—part idyll, part nightmare—that ultimately leaves the burbling babe and her daemon, Pantalaimon, ensconced in Jordan College. First, though, come encounters with Lyra's larger-than-life parents and numerous other characters met in other books in the series, no fewer than three of the world's six alethiometers, the odd fairy or river god, and a sick, twisted villain whose relentless pursuit leads to a rape in the tale's most hideously violent episode. Save for a few "gyptians," the human cast is white. Illustrations not seen.Magisterial storytelling will sweep readers along; the cast is as vividly drawn as ever; and big themes running beneath the surface invite profound responses and reflection. (Fantasy. 13-adult)

Kirkus Reviews