The Book of Dust 1: La Belle Sauvage

　　繼黑暗元素三部曲（Dark Materials）後，奇幻大師菲利浦．普曼（Philip Pullman）最新力作《The Book of Dust》三部曲隆重登場！

　　這本書的背景，設定在1995年出版的黑暗元素首部曲《黃金羅盤》的故事發生前十年，以《黃金羅盤》的萊拉以及守護精靈潘拉蒙為主角。

　　作者菲利浦為這本重量級新書提供了誘人的細節：「我一直想寫一本有關萊拉如何到約旦學院生活的故事，在思考情節時，我發現這會是一個漫長的故事，從萊拉還是個小貝比到她長大之後的故事。首部曲與二部曲將描寫關於萊拉生命的兩個時期，但關於第三部曲，我不會透露故事內容的。」

　　菲利浦表示，《The Book of Dust》不會是黑暗元素三部曲的前傳或續集，這是一個不同的故事，只是有一些元素是之前曾經出現過的。在這本新書裡，會有一些新臉孔，包括一個看似不起眼的男孩，但他會與萊拉一起經歷一場冒險，進入一個新世界。

　　黑暗的平行世界、史詩般的冒險過程，奇幻大師睽違21年最新力作，讓全球讀者即將再度踏上一段充滿魔法與驚奇的神秘旅程。(文/博客來編譯)

　　The much-anticipated new work from the author of The Golden Compass is coming at last!

　　Renowned storyteller Philip Pullman returns to the parallel world of Lyra Belacqua and His Dark Materials for a thrilling and epic adventure in which daemons, alethiometers, and the Magisterium all play a part.

　　The Book of Dust will be a work in three parts, like His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass).

　　The title and cover of this first story will remain under wraps until a later date, but it can be revealed that the book is set ten years before The Golden Compass andcenters on the much-loved character Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon.

　　Philip Pullman offers these tantalizing details: “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. This volume and the next will cover two parts of Lyra’s life: starting at the beginning of her story and returning to her twenty years later. As for the third and final part, my lips are sealed.

　　“So, second: is it a prequel? Is it a sequel? It’s neither. In fact, The Book of Dust is . . . an equel. It doesn’t stand before or after His Dark Materials, but beside it. It’s a different story, but there are settings that readers of His Dark Materials will recognize, and characters they’ve met before. Also, of course, there are some characters who are new to us, including an ordinary boy (a boy we have glimpsed in an earlier part of Lyra’s story, if we were paying attention) who, with Lyra, is caught up in a terrifying adventure that takes him into a new world.

　　“Third: why return to Lyra’s world? Dust. Questions about that mysterious and troubling substance were already causing strife ten years before His Dark Materials, and at the center of The Book of Dust is the struggle between a despotic and totalitarian organization, 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 books of the His Dark Materials trilogy were showered with praise, and the Cincinnati Enquirer proclaimed, “Pullman has created the last great fantasy masterpiece of the twentieth century.” With The Book of Dust, Philip Pullman embarks on an equally grand adventure, sure to be hailed as the first great fantasy masterpiece of the twenty-first century.

作者簡介

　　Philip Pullman is one of the most highly respected children's authors writing today. Winner of many prestigious awards, including the Carnegie of Carnegies and the Whitbread Award, Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has been acclaimed as a modern classic. It has sold 17.5 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. In 2005 he was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Oxford.