My book for today is The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman. It is the second volume of The Book of Dust and the full contents are a closely-guarded secret at the moment. This is actually a good thing as the catalogue will be largely finished by then – this will be another book for which everything stops.

Lyra is now a young woman, having jumped from the baby in La Belle Sauvage and the girl of His Dark Materials. In the little (much too little) sample that it being handed out, Lyra is in a narrow boat, headed towards the fens. She seems to have gained more magical powers, which is perhaps not surprising but, shockingly, Pan is not there and Lyra describes him as ‘a traitor’. It will be a long wait till October but, as part of my rereading plan, I’d like to reread Once Upon a Time in the North, the three volumes of His Dark Materials and Lyra’s Oxford. That way, when the new one is published, I’d have read everything in chronological order. 

Boat 15.

Jane

Philip Pullman, The Secret Commonwealth will be published on 3^rd October, hardback, £20. As always please order or buy it when the time comes from your local bookshop. You’d miss it if it closed.