The Book of Dust - La Belle Sauvage - by Philip Pullman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Two young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the center of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future.

As the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others.

Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust - La Belle Sauvage is set twelve years before the epic His Dark Materials trilogy. Bryony Lavery's stage adaptation was first performed at the Bridge Theatre, London, in December 2021, directed by Nicholas Hytner, whose groundbreaking production of His Dark Materials was a critical and commercial success at the National Theatre.

Review Quotes

"A theatrical marvel... Bryony Lavery's adaptation is lean without short-changing us on the story... The central, ideological battle between scientists and the sinister forces of the Magisterium is captured with a clean economy... The stage is action-filled with one dangerous turn after another... keeps closely to Pullman's earth-bound and realistic brand of fantasy... the ultimate Christmas show - with sacrilegious twists."

"Ingenious and beguiling... a compelling narrative for our times... It's a testament to Lavery's adaptation that we always sense [Pullman's] conceptual complexity at the same time as being able to enjoy La Belle Sauvage as a fly-by-the-seat of your pants adventure."

"Is Bryony Lavery Philip Pullman's daemon? Her adaptation goes to the heart of Pullman's book and, daemon-like, expresses its essence. Clear and swift, it brings an extra bounce of humour to the tangle of speculation and saltiness that makes the novel at once provoking and compelling."

"Truly extraordinary... playwright Bryony Lavery and director Nicholas Hytner attach jumper cables to the audience's imagination... Her adaptation is a textbook example of skilled translation for the stage... redolent of the best classic work built around young characters: it's as satisfying for parents as it is for children."

About the Author

Bryony Lavery is a playwright whose work includes: Last Easter, A Wedding Story and Frozen (TMA Best Play 2001, Eileen Anderson Best Play 2001), which began life at Birmingham Rep, moved to the National Theatre, London, and was then produced on Broadway where it was nominated for four Tony awards. She has written five plays for National Theatre Connections. She adapted Philip Pullman's novel The Book of Dust - La Belle Sauvage for the Bridge Theatre, London (2021).

Philip Pullman is the author of several best-selling books, most notably the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, its companion trilogy The Book of Dust, and the fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. He was born in Norwich, England, in 1946 and grew up in Zimbabwe and Wales. He worked as a teacher for many years and his first children's novel, Count Karlstein, came out in 1982. The Ruby in the Smoke, the first of the Sally Lockhart quartet of Victorian thrillers, was published in 1985. He has won many awards for his children's books, including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Book Award, the Smarties Prize, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and a CBE. His acclaimed fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials (Scholastic Books in the UK and Knopf in the US), comprising Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, has been published in thirty-nine languages, and even in graphic novel form (with the French publishers, Gallimard). His other books for children and young adults include Clockwork, I Was a Rat!, and The New Cut Gang books; Thunderbolt's Waxwork and The Gas-Fitter's Ball. In 2010 he published his controversial number-one bestseller The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. He was knighted in 2019 for services to literature.