PHILIP PULLMAN is the author of 33 books and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, the Eleanor Farjeon Award and the Astrid Lindgren Award.
He is best known for his bestselling series ‘His Dark Materials’ and companion series ‘The Book of Dust’. The Rose Field is the highly anticipated conclusion to the latter.
AKINA HANSEN writes.
This year marks 30 years since readers were first introduced to the world of ‘His Dark Materials’. A series that would go on to catapult its author, Philip Pullman, into legendary literary status.
However, commercial and critical success came to Philip later in life. From age 25, he worked as a teacher at various middle schools in Oxford before joining Westminster College in 1986. During this time, he wrote on the side and maintained a steady literary output.
It wasn’t until 1995 though, when he was nearly 50, that his character Lyra Belacqua (‘Lyra Silvertongue’ to her friends), came into the world.
This bestselling trilogy has gone on to sell over 17.5 million copies worldwide and includes Northern Lights (1995), The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000). It follows the adventures of an 11-year-old girl from Oxford called Lyra, her dæmon, Pan (a person’s soul in animal form) and her friend Will as they travel across perilous landscapes and unfamiliar realms with a truth-telling alethiometer and a knife forged to cut through the fabric of worlds.
Despite originally being marketed for younger readers, the series has gained immense popularity across both younger and older readers and has even been adapted into a successful HBO series starring James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson.
Set in a world not unlike our own, Philip’s Victorian-inspired Brytain is under the harsh rule of the Magisterium, a cruel and authoritarian religious power determined to rid the world of original sin or ‘Dust’ – an elementary particle associated with consciousness, free will and imagination – all things that threaten to undermine their power.
Philip, an ardent and outspoken atheist, drew inspiration from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, turning Milton’s vision of divine authority on its head to offer a critique of organised religion and its corrupting influence.
Interestingly, much like the oppressive rule of the Magisterium, Philip’s books have also been targeted by various religious groups who have campaigned to have his books banned and censored across schools and libraries in the US. The Amber Spyglass faced controversy, with some U.S. editions altered or challenged in schools and libraries.
In The Amber Spyglass, Lyra fulfils a long-foretold prophecy, saves the multiverse and helps defeat the Authority, the Magisterium’s godlike leader. But her transition from childhood to adolescence comes at a painful cost: she is ‘separated’ or emotionally and physically torn from Pan and forced to say goodbye to Will.Through these trials, Philip reminds readers of the life-affirming power of first love and loss.
Lyra’s story does not end there, however. Over the past two decades Philip has returned to this world and its characters with several companion stories. Many readers will be returning to this world as adults, having grown up with Lyra, Pan and their adventures to the North, Cittàgazze and beyond. It seems only right we are given one last glimpse into Lyra’s world.
His ‘Book of Dust’ trilogy dives deeper in Lyra’s story with La Belle Sauvage (2017), The Secret Commonwealth (2019) and most recently, The Rose Field.
La Belle Sauvage is a prequel that takes readers back to when Lyra is a baby. Importantly, it sets the scene for what is to come. We return to the world of Oxford where we meet a bright young boy named Malcolm Polstead who helps his parents at their pub and the nuns at the priory across the river.
The times are politically turbulent: people are afraid to speak freely, children are being recruited as informants for the Church and those who speak out vanish without a trace.
When a great flood hits the city, and a menacing man starts asking questions about an orphaned baby called Lyra at the priory, Malcolm takes it upon himself to keep her safe.
In ‘The Book of Dust’ trilogy, the Magisterium is as corrupt as ever, desperate to suppress any information about Dust and relentless in its pursuit of Lyra.
Their powers become even more far-reaching in The Secret Commonwealth, a story set seven years after the events of The Amber Spyglass. In Central Asia, political tensions are escalating over the production of rose oil, a coveted substance that allows people to see Dust – a secret the Magisterium will stop at nothing to protect.
In this book, Lyra is a 20-year-old student at Oxford and is still carrying the pain of her past. She is burdened by thoughts of Will and an intense guilt over her bond-altering ‘separation’ from Pan. Their rift deepens when Lyra becomes fixated on two books which, to Pan’s horror, reject wonder and truth. Believing her imagination has been stolen, Pan leaves Lyra in search of it. Lyra, in turn, follows – embarking on a journey that takes her across Europe, Central Asia and the Silk Roads and helps her rediscover herself and reconnect with Dust.
For Philip, Dust has been the driving force behind returning to this world. In an interview with The Saturday Paper he discusses his fascination with philosopher David Chalmers’s ‘the hard problem’ – the relationship between matter and consciousness – and his interest in panpsychism, the idea that everything has some degree of consciousness.
He explores the mysteries surrounding Dust further in The Rose Field, the conclusion of the ‘Book of Dust’ series. Across the world, there exist openings or cracks that lead to other realms. One such opening, hidden in a red building in the desert, leads to the elusive rose gardens that produce the coveted oil. Fearful of the spread of this information, the Magisterium embarks on a crusade to destroy all these openings.
Meanwhile, Lyra continues east, determined to reunite with Pan. Along the way, she learns how to see the world as it truly is – with all its magic and wonder. In turn, her resolve to protect Dust returns and leads her to the red building.
As we’ve seen in Philip’s previous books, all actions carry consequences that reverberate across the universe. When witches and gryphons notice a disturbance in the skies, they form an unlikely alliance. And old friends and new come together in a final battle against tyranny.
Dust and its mysteries are where Lyra’s story began and where it comes to an end. Like Lyra, we are reminded not to abandon our sense of wonder, but to hold onto it ever more dearly. While The Rose Field may mark the final chapter of Lyra’s story, the world and the characters Philip created will live on in our imaginations. •
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHORPhilip Pullman was born in Norwich and educated in England, Zimbabwe, Australia and Wales. He studied English at Exeter College, Oxford.
His first children’s book, Count Karlstein, was published in 1982. To date, he has published t33 books, read by children and adults alike. His most famous work is the ”His Dark Materials trilogy. These books have been honoured by several prizes including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children’s Book Prize, and (for The Amber Spyglass) the Whitbread Book of the Year Award – the first time that prize had been given to a children’s book. Pullman has received numerous other awards, including the Eleanor Farjeon Award and the Astrid Lindgren Award.
He was knighted in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List for Services to Literature.
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