22 years since readers were first introduced to the His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman returns to his alternative universe with The Book of Dust, Volume One, La Belle Sauvage - which is just as gripping and exciting as any of the previous volumes.
La Belle Sauvage is set 10 years before The Golden Compass, the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, at which time Lyra, the protagonist from the original series, is a baby left in the care of nuns. Lyra has been hidden from her birth parents and entrusted to the nuns by the courts, both as punishment for her parent’s illicit affair as well as for her own protection from their conflicting political interests. Lyra’s mother is the beautiful-yet-terrifying religious extremist Ms Coulter and her father is the valiant Lord Asriel, who also happens to be a convicted murderer.
Across the road from the Thames-side nunnery is the family run pub The Trout, the humble abode of our young hero Malcolm Polestead. Malcolm, along with his daemon Asta, the physical manifestation of his soul, is an inquisitive young boy who enjoys riding his canoe, and listening to the stories of scholars and visitors to the Trout. He also likes helping the nuns.
However, Malcolm and his travelling companion, the bar-girl Alice, are about to enter a world of secrecy, spies, religious autonomy and dangers of biblical proportions in a brooding Victorian battle encompassing politics, science and religion.
One day Malcolm is out on the Thames in his canoe La Belle Sauvage when he spots a panicked-looking man dropping something. Shortly afterwards, Malcolm finds the lost object - a brass acorn used to pass secret messages from the underground resistance to a lady called Dr. Hannah Relf. She is a scholar with the ability to read the Althiomenter, familiar to fans of His Dark Materials as an intriguing magical and scientific instrument. For those learned enough to read it, it can be used as a truth-telling device or even to predict the future.
After discovering the acorn and meeting Dr. Relf and baby Lyra, Malcom’s fate is now sealed: Malcolm was enchanted. Everything about her was perfect…He was her servant for life.
As Lyra’s environment becomes threatened, Malcolm and Alice plan to steal her from the nunnery and deliver the baby to the safety of Jordan College, where she will be raised. What lies ahead is an adventure that crosses paths with the mysterious water people known as The Gyptians, the terrifying religious authority known as The Magesterium and their henchmen, the CCD.
Foreign rights to The Book of Dust have been sold in 33 languages, and Pullman is back at his best. La Belle Sauvage is a wonderful read in its own right, and the author is not grasping at straws to rekindle a former glory. Neither does it feel like an after-the-fact novel living in the shadow of The Golden Compass and Lyra. Pullman himself declares that The Book of Dust is not a sequel but an 'equal' to the trilogy, which was published between 1995 and 2000. Indeed, La Belle Sauvage has its own strong characters and slowly unwinding plot.
It is over 10 years since I last read Pullman, but I found myself slipping into the rhythm and ease of the passages and his writing; the familiar towns, concepts and world of unrest quietly building to the one created in the original trilogy. That said, I don’t think it necessary to have read His Dark Materials before delving into this one, although I may do just that before he releases Volume Two, The Secret Commonwealth. That book is set 20 years after The Book Of Dust, with Lyra as a grown woman following the events of the original trilogy.
Pullman offers his loyal audience uncomplicated writing, but big concepts - a world where religion infiltrates the courts, where free speech is squandered and children are encouraged to inform on their parents and superiors. The Book of Dust is a slow burner and does not have particular page-turning appeal, but then again neither did the others and I don’t think his millions of fans had any issue with that.
I’m delighted Pullman has revisited this epic parallel universe and cannot wait to read the next instalment.
