THE BOOK OF DUST VOLUME 1: LA BELLE SAUVAGE

In the much-anticipated first book in the new trilogy we’re reunited with the heroine of His Dark Materials, Lyra Belacqua (and her daemon, Pantalaimon). But, as Pullman has gone back in time by a decade, she’s just a baby.

We discover how she came to live as an orphan at Jordan College at prestigious Oxford university, where readers first got to know her as a young child in the previous series.

Malcolm Polstead, a bright schoolboy, takes an interest in the baby who’s been placed in the care of nuns across the river from his parents’ pub. When an epic flood hits, it’s up to him to keep her safe from this and other threats .

This is Lyra’s origin story and sets the scene for Northern Lights. In many ways it’s an easier read than His Dark Materials. Perhaps Pullman realised that despite the popularity of the previous trio of books, it wasn’t always the easiest concept to follow, especially for the young readers it was aimed at.