''The Book of Dust'' is a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

fantasy novels Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

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, ''T ...

, which expands his trilogy ''

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). It follo ...

''. The books further chronicle the adventures of

Lyra Belacqua Lyra Belacqua (), also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. In ''His Dark Materials'' Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own. Brought up in the cloistered world ...

and her battle against the

theocratic Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs. Etymology The word theocracy originates fr ...

organisation known as the Magisterium, and shed more light on the mysterious substance called

Dust Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in ho ...

. The first book, ''

La Belle Sauvage ''La Belle Sauvage'' is a fantasy novel by Philip Pullman published in 2017. It is the first volume of a planned trilogy titled ''The Book of Dust'' and is set twelve years before Pullman's ''His Dark Materials''. It presents events prior to the ...

'', was published in October 2017, and is set 12 years before '' Northern Lights''. It describes how the 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead and the 15-year-old Alice protect the infant Lyra; leading to her being in the care of Jordan College. It introduces the research by academics and other free-thinkers into

, a mysterious subatomic particle related to consciousness, and the origins of Lyra's alethiometer. The second book, ''

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 conclus ...

'', was published on 3 October 2019 and is set after the events in the original trilogy with Lyra as a twenty-year-old undergraduate. Work on the third book in the series had not commenced at that time. Pullman has said that the trilogy addresses

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

: "Perhaps the oldest philosophical question of all: are we matter? Or are we spirit and matter? What is consciousness if there is no spirit? Questions like that are of perennial fascination and they haven’t been solved yet, thank goodness." He added that the series might be slightly darker than the original, and quipped that it could alternatively be titled "His Darker Materials".

History of the trilogy

Pullman conceived ''The Book of Dust'' before the publication of ''

Lyra's Oxford ''Lyra's Oxford'' is a 2003 novella by Philip Pullman depicting an episode involving the heroine of ''His Dark Materials'', Pullman's best-selling trilogy. ''Lyra's Oxford'' is set when Lyra Belacqua is 15, two years after the end of the trilog ...

'' in 2003 and in 2005 he confirmed the book was "under way". Early on he described it as being a longer book than he had initially imagined and later that he was considering writing two volumes, one set before ''His Dark Materials'' and the other set afterwards. In 2017 Pullman stated that ''The Book of Dust'' would be a new trilogy, and announced the publication of the first part, ''La Belle Sauvage,'' published on 19 October 2017. The books are jointly published by Random House Children's and David Fickling Books in the United Kingdom, and by

Random House Children's Books Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in the US.

Books

''The Book of Dust'' takes place before, during and after the original trilogy; Pullman described it as an "equel", rather than a sequel, which "will begin and end with Lyra". In Pullman's words the story's main focus is: “the struggle between a despotic and totalitarian organisation, which wants to stifle speculation and enquiry, and those who believe thought and speech should be free”. The books will touch on research into

, the cosmic matter that governs consciousness. Pullman said the trilogy addresses

''La Belle Sauvage''

The first book, ''La Belle Sauvage'', was published in October 2017, and is set around 11 years before '' Northern Lights''. It describes how the 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead and the 15-year-old Alice protect the infant Lyra; leading to her being in the care of Jordan College. It introduces the research by academics and other free-thinkers into

, a mysterious subatomic particle related to consciousness, and the origins of Lyra's alethiometer.

''The Secret Commonwealth''

The second volume, ''The Secret Commonwealth'', was published on 3 October 2019, and begins with Lyra as a 20-year-old undergraduate. It involves her journeying to the Far East via the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

. ''The Secret Commonwealth'' takes its title from a compilation of folklore by Robert Kirk that Pullman has said is one of his favourite books.

The third book

During a launch event for ''The Secret Commonwealth'' in October 2019, Pullman said, "We can see where the story is going in this book. It's going towards

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, it involves roses and it involves Dust. That's all I can tell you⁠—I don't even have a title for it yet!" though he had earlier mentioned possible titles such as ''The Garden of Roses'' or ''Roses from the South''. A short excerpt of the first chapter is available as part of an interview on the blog of

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

. On 3 October 2022, Pullman was asked on Twitter about the status of the third book, and he replied "I'm writing it now. I'm up to page 275."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of Dust Book series introduced in 2017 His Dark Materials books Dystopian novels Upcoming books British young adult novels David Fickling Books books