FANS of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy will be able to dive back into Lara Belacqua’s Oxford after the author announced a long-awaited follow-up.
Mr Pullman, who lives in Cumnor, announced three new books to follow the original trilogy.
The last was published in 2000.
Mr Pullman described the books as an ‘equel’ rather than a prequel or sequel.
The first – The Book of Dust –will be published in October and will return to the story of Lyra Belacqua, based in a parallel Britain of alethiometers, daemons and the Magisterium.
It will be set 10 years before the first His Dark Materials book The Northern Lights, with the series picking up again 20 years after The Amber Spyglass.
Mr Pullman said: “I’ve always wanted to tell the story of how Lyra came to be living at Jordan College and, in thinking about it, I discovered a long story that began when she was a baby and will end when she’s grown up.
“At the centre of The Book Of Dust is the struggle between a despotic and totalitarian organisation, which wants to stifle speculation and inquiry, and those who believe thought and speech should be free.
“The idea of Dust suffused His Dark Materials. Little by little through that story the idea of what Dust was became clearer and clearer, but I always wanted to return to it and discover more.”
The original trilogy has sold more than 17.5m copies.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here