He was speaking ahead of Thursday’s midnight launch of La Belle Sauvage, the first volume in a new trilogy, The Book of Dust, where he told press the second volume was already complete. Speaking in the Oxford’s 17th-century Bodleian library, which itself features in his hugely anticipated – and heavily embargoed – novel, Pullman also told press that La Belle Sauvage is a darker book than its predecessors. The Book of Dust Vol 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman review – worth the wait Read moreQuipping that novel, the first in The Book of Dust trilogy, should be called “His Darker Materials”, Pullman said that as an author, “I’ve got older and perhaps more cynical, closer to despair”. As well as the 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead, his daemon Asta and his canoe, La Belle Sauvage, who become Lyra’s protectors after a huge flood, Pullman also introduces a range of new characters to the story, including alethiometer specialist Dr Hannah Relf and the villainous Gerard Bonneville. Returning old favourites include Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon, her father Lord Asriel and mother Mrs Coulter, and Farder Coram.

Source: The Guardian October 18, 2017 22:52 UTC