The Secret Commonwealth
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The Secret Commonwealth
''The Secret Commonwealth'' is a 2019 fantasy novel by Philip Pullman, the second volume of his planned trilogy ''The Book of Dust''. The story is set twenty years or so after the events of ''La Belle Sauvage'' and ten years after the conclusion of ''the His Dark Materials'' trilogy. Lyra Silvertongue is now an adult. Setting The setting is a world dominated by the Magisterium, an international theocracy which actively suppresses heresy. In this world, humans' souls naturally exist outside of their bodies in the form of sapient " dæmons" in animal form which accompany, aid, and comfort their humans. An important plot device is the alethiometer, a truth-telling symbol reader. Plot Lyra is a student at St Sophia's College Oxford, but still lives at Jordan College. Her rescuer of twenty years earlier in ''La Belle Sauvage,'' Malcolm Polstead, is now an academic. Lyra has come to admire the works of two writers: Simon Talbot, a philosopher who asserts that rationality is ...
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Philip Pullman
Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''The Times'' named Pullman one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945". In a 2004 BBC poll, he was named the eleventh most influential person in British culture. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to literature. ''Northern Lights'', the first volume in ''His Dark Materials'', won the 1995 Carnegie Medal of the Library Association as the year's outstanding English-language children's book.(Carnegie Winner 1995)
. Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners.

Jordan College, Oxford
This article covers the fictional locations in the ''His Dark Materials'' trilogy and related works by Philip Pullman. Locations Jordan College Jordan College is a fictional college. It exists in Oxford in a universe parallel to our own and is the home of the trilogy's young heroine, Lyra Belacqua. The location and layout of Jordan College is analogous to the location of Exeter College, Philip Pullman's alma mater, at the University of Oxford. However, unlike the fictional college, Exeter College is not the oldest ''(it is the fourth-oldest)'', nor is it the largest or richest college at Oxford. Jordan College is an exaggerated version of the real Exeter College, rambling above and below ground in a motley arrangement of buildings, cellars and tunnels constructed over several centuries: :''What was above ground was only a small fraction of the whole. Like some enormous fungus whose root-system extended over acres, Jordan (finding itself jostling for space above ground with S ...
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Novels By Philip Pullman
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the historica ...
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His Dark Materials Books
His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in China * Harare International School in Zimbabwe * Hokkaido International School, in Japan * Hsinchu International School, in Taiwan * Hollandsch-Inlandsche School a Dutch school for native Indonesians in the Dutch East Indies Science * Bundle of His, a collection of specialized heart cells * Health information system * Hospital information system * Host identical sequence ** Human identical sequence * His-tag, a polyhistidine motif in proteins * Histidine, an amino acid * His 1 virus, a synonyms of Halspiviridae * HIS-1, a long non-coding RNA, also known as VIS1 People * Wilhelm His, Sr. (1831–1904), Swiss anatomist * Wilhelm His, Jr. (1863–1934), Swiss anatomist Places * His, Agder, a village in Arendal municipality in Agde ...
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2019 British Novels
Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music * 19 (band), a Japanese pop music duo Albums * ''19'' (Adele album), 2008 * ''19'', a 2003 album by Alsou * ''19'', a 2006 album by Evan Yo * ''19'', a 2018 album by MHD * ''19'', one half of the double album ''63/19'' by Kool A.D. * ''Number Nineteen'', a 1971 album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron * ''XIX'' (EP), a 2019 EP by 1the9 Songs * "19" (song), a 1985 song by British musician Paul Hardcastle. * "Nineteen", a song by Bad4Good from the 1992 album ''Refugee'' * "Nineteen", a song by Karma to Burn from the 2001 album ''Almost Heathen''. * "Nineteen" (song), a 2007 song by American singer Billy Ray Cyrus. * "Nineteen", a song by Tegan and Sara from the 2007 album '' The Con''. * "XIX" (song), a 2014 song by Slipknot. ...
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British Book Awards
The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the National Book Awards from 2010 to 2014. Book award history The British Book Awards, or Nibbies, ran from 1990 to 2009 and were founded by the editor of ''Publishing News''. The award was then acquired by Agile Marketing which renamed it the National Book Awards with headline sponsors Galaxy National Book Awards (2010–2011) (sponsored by Galaxy) and Specsavers National Book Awards (2012–2014) (sponsored by Specsavers). There were no National Book Awards after 2014. In 2017 the award was acquired by ''The Bookseller'' and renamed to the original British Book Awards or Nibbies. In 2005, ''The Bookseller'' launched a separate scheme, The Bookseller Retail Awards (winners not listed in this article). In 2010, running parallel to the National Bo ...
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Grenfell Tower Fire
On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escaping. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 ''Piper Alpha'' oil-platform disaster and the worst UK residential fire since World War II. The fire was started by an electrical fault in a refrigerator on the fourth floor. This spread rapidly up the building's exterior, bringing flame and smoke to all residential floors, accelerated by dangerously combustible aluminium composite cladding and external insulation, with an air gap between them enabling the stack effect. The fire was declared a major incident with more than 250 London Fire Brigade firefighters and 70 fire engines from stations across London involved in efforts to control the fire and rescue residents. More than 100 London Ambulance Service crews ...
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Robert Kirk (folklorist)
Robert Kirk (9 December 1644 – 14 May 1692) was a minister, Gaelic scholar and folklorist, best known for ''The Secret Commonwealth'', a treatise on fairy folklore, witchcraft, ghosts, and second sight, a type of extrasensory perception described as a phenomenon by the people of the Scottish Highlands. Folklorist Stewart Sanderson and mythologist Marina Warner called Kirk's collection of supernatural tales one of the most important and significant works on the subject of fairies and second sight.Sanderson 1964, p. 1; Warner 2007, p. viii. In the late 1680s, Kirk travelled to London to help publish one of the first translations of the Bible into Scottish Gaelic. Gentleman scientist Robert Boyle financed the publication of the Gaelic Bible and pursued inquiries into Kirk's reports of second sight. Kirk died before he was able to publish ''The Secret Commonwealth''. Legends arose after Kirk's death saying he had been taken away to fairyland for revealing the secrets of the Go ...
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List Of His Dark Materials And The Book Of Dust Characters
This is a list of characters from the two Philip Pullman trilogies, ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Book of Dust''. Introduced in ''Northern Lights'' Lyra Belacqua Lyra Belacqua, later known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the central character of ''His Dark Materials'' and a key character in ''The Book of Dust''. Together with her dæmon Pantalaimon, she is introduced in ''La Belle Sauvage'', where she is being protected from the Magisterium. Initially, as a baby, by the nuns of the Priory of Saint Rosamund, and later she is brought up by the scholars of Jordan College. In '' Northern Lights'', as she leaves Jordan in the company of her mother, Mrs Coulter, the Master of the college gives her an alethiometer, which allows her to find answers on any subject. Searching for a kidnapped friend of hers, she ends up travelling to the far north of her world, and then across the multiverse, where she plays a part in a cosmic war between forces led by an angel named The Authority and her ...
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Races And Creatures In His Dark Materials
''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995) (published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), ''The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and ''The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). This is a list of the fictional races and creatures in the novels. Armoured bears (''panserbjørne'') The ''panserbjørne'' are polar bear-like creatures that have opposable thumbs on their front paws. Despite their large digits and immense strength they have remarkable dexterity. This, together with an innate gift for metallurgy, makes them exceptional metalsmiths, and they are capable of creating and repairing metal items far beyond the capabilities of human smiths. While they mainly speak English, they are shown to be able to speak other languages. Bears are very difficult to deceive. One exception is Iofur Raknison; the bear-king emulates humans by drinking spirits, wearing opulent clothes, and wanting a dæmon. His gullibility is attributed to hi ...
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Malcolm Polstead
This is a list of characters from the two Philip Pullman trilogies, ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Book of Dust''. Introduced in ''Northern Lights'' Lyra Belacqua Lyra Belacqua, later known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the central character of ''His Dark Materials'' and a key character in ''The Book of Dust''. Together with her dæmon Pantalaimon, she is introduced in ''La Belle Sauvage'', where she is being protected from the Magisterium. Initially, as a baby, by the nuns of the Priory of Saint Rosamund, and later she is brought up by the scholars of Jordan College. In '' Northern Lights'', as she leaves Jordan in the company of her mother, Mrs Coulter, the Master of the college gives her an alethiometer, which allows her to find answers on any subject. Searching for a kidnapped friend of hers, she ends up travelling to the far north of her world, and then across the multiverse, where she plays a part in a cosmic war between forces led by an angel named The Authority and her ...
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Dust (His Dark Materials)
In Philip Pullman's ''His Dark Materials'' and '' The Book of Dust'' trilogies, Dust or Rusakov particles are particles associated with consciousness that are integral to the plot. In the multiverse in which these trilogies are set, Dust is attracted to consciousness, especially after puberty; the Church within the series associates Dust with original sin and seeks its end. Pullman described Dust in an interview as "an analogy of consciousness, and consciousness is this extraordinary property we have as human beings". Analogs ''Paradise Lost'' Anne-Marie Bird links Pullman's concept of "Dust" to "a conventional metaphor for human physicality inspired by God's judgment on humanity." Writing in ''Children's Literature in Education'', she suggests that the first trilogy develops John Milton's metaphor of "dark materials" from '' Paradise Lost "''into a ‘substance’ in which good and evil, and spirit and matter – conceptual opposites that form the basis of religious du ...
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