So I did that, and gave them the manuscript (because I always write by hand: ballpoint pen on narrow-lined A4 paper) and the typed final text, to be auctioned together. In the event, the gala was very successful, and Serpentine was bought for an astonishing amount of money by Glenn and Phyllida Earle. Now that the story is published in book form, I’m happy to acknowledge their great generosity in this way.
Finally, why are we publishing this story now, after sixteen years? Because with the development of The Book of Dust, especially after the events described in The Secret Commonwealth, we can see a change in the way Lyra understands herself, and her relationship with Pantalaimon, which is prefigured in this little Arctic episode. When I wrote Serpentine I had no idea that I was going on to write another trilogy, showing Lyra as an adult, but (as I say) she and her world wouldn’t leave me alone. When it comes to human affairs, a billion invisible filaments connect us to our own pasts, as well as to the most remote things we can imagine; and I hope that, above all, these books are about being alive and being human.
Philip Pullman
© Tom Nicholson
PHILIP PULLMAN is one of the most acclaimed writers working today. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy, which has been named one of the top 100 books of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly. Pullman was knighted for his services to literature in the 2019 New Years Honours.
The Book of Dust, Pullman’s eagerly anticipated return to the world of His Dark Materials, will also be a book in three parts. It began with La Belle Sauvage and continues with The Secret Commonwealth.
Other companion works that illuminate this world include Lyra’s Oxford, Once Upon a Time in the North, The Collectors, and The Golden Compass Graphic Novel.
Philip Pullman lives in Oxford, England.
philip-pullman.com
Tom Duxbury is an illustrator from the moors of West Yorkshire. His work is influenced by lino-printing, which he uses to depict feeling, movement and nostalgia. He is inspired by the spirit of nature and the narrative of a landscape.
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