Philip Pullman

Meet the New Cut gang - Benny, Thunderbolt, Bridie and the Peretti twins - the greatest detectives since Sexton Blake. Who's passing counterfeit coins round Lambeth? Surely not Thunderbolt's dad, who's been arrested. And who's stolen the Worshipful Company of Gas-Fitters' silver? With a little help from some colourful (and not always willing) accomplices, our heroes are soon blazing hot on the criminals' trail.

Published together for the first time are Philip Pullman's classic tales of crime and detection: THUNDERBOLT'S WAXWORK and THE GAS-FITTERS' BALL.

Aladdin is a lazy wretch whose only trade is making mischief and breaking his poor mother’s heart – certainly not the type of boy for whom destiny has a plan. But when a Moor arrives in the marketplace with a dagger of gold and a smile revealing teeth like pointed needles, it is Aladdin whom he seeks, and Aladdin who will lead him into the desert, where a hidden garden of enchantment conceals powerful magic. A tale of treachery in the sand, jinnees, jewels, and the love of a princess, ALADDIN AND THE ENCHANTED LAMP is told with Philip Pullman’s inimitable style and illustrated in rich and vibrant colours.

One night there was a thunderstorm. A tattered scarecrow stood in the wind and rain, taking no notice . . . until a bolt of lightning struck his turnip head. The scarecrow blinked with surprise and came to life.
So begins the story of the Scarecrow, a courteous but pea-brained fellow with grand ideas. He meets a boy, Jack, who becomes his faithful servant. Leaving behind the Scarecrow’s usual bird-scaring duties, the Scarecrow sets out for Spring Valley, with Jack at his side. Along the way there’s no end of excitement, not least avoiding the many members of the crooked Buffaloni family. As the valiant Scarecrow plunges them into terrifying dangers – pirates and treasure islands, brigands and broken hearts – it’s up to Jack time after time to save the day.

A dramatic tale full of twists and turns, surprises and silliness – just as one would expect from a consummate storyteller.

THE SCARECROW AND HIS SERVANT was shortlisted for the 2004 Carnegie Medal (presented in 2005).

'Have you ever heard the phrase The Seven Blessings?' That question causes a man to die of shock, and propels Sally Lockhart into a desperate adventure that will expose the deepest secrets of the corrupt and murderous opium trade.
Sally is sixteen when the story begins, orphaned and alone. She's had an unconventional education: her knowledge of English Literature, French, History, Art and Music is non-existent, but she has a thorough grounding in military tactics, can run a business, ride like a Cossack and shoot straight with a pistol.

When her father is drowned in suspicious circumstances in the South China Sea, Sally soon finds herself in terrible danger too - and at the rotten heart of it all lies the deadly secret of the ruby in the smoke.

THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE is now a major BBC TV adaptation starring Billie Piper, to be screened over Christmas 2006. This novel is the first in the Sally Lockhart Quartet; the second, THE SHADOW IN THE NORTH, is to follow the first as a BBC adaptation. The third and fourth titles in the series are THE TIGER IN THE WELL and THE TIN PRINCESS.

Master storyteller Philip Pullman returns to the world of Lyra and Will, Mrs Coulter and Lee Scoresby, Pantalaimon and Iorek Byrnison, in this must-have companion to the His Dark Materials trilogy.
A book of stunning, moving, exhilarating, breathtaking scenes set during the events of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass and The Book of Dust: from Serafina Pekkala sitting quietly on her cloud pine broom, listening to Dust, ahead of the epic battle with the Angels, to a young Lyra speculating about her mother's identity. In exquisite prose, Philip Pullman cuts new windows into his worlds for the reader to step through and reveals new truths about many of the iconic characters from Lyra's universe.

A standalone novella. Lyra Silvertongue and her daemon Pantalaimon have left the events of His Dark Materials behind. Here in this snapshot of their forever-changed lives they return to the North to revisit an old friend where we will learn that things are not exactly as they seem. The perfect re-entry for fans of His Dark Materials and a wonderful companion to The Book of Dust. Serpentine is a brand-new treat for Pullman fans old and new.

The second volume of Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust sees Lyra, now twenty years old, and her daemon Pantalaimon, forced to navigate their relationship in a way they could never have imagined, and drawn into the complex and dangerous factions of a world that they had no idea existed.
Pulled along on his own journey too is Malcolm; once a boy with a boat and a mission to save a baby from the flood, now a man with a strong sense of duty and a desire to do what is right.
Theirs is a world at once familiar and extraordinary, and they must travel far beyond the edges of Oxford, across Europe and into Asia, in search for what is lost - a city haunted by daemons, a secret at the heart of a desert, and the mystery of the elusive Dust.

The first installment in Philip Pullman's new The Book of Dust trilogy. Malcolm Polstead's Oxford life has been one of routine, ordinary even. He is happiest playing with his daemon, Asta, in their canoe, La Belle Sauvage. But now as the rain builds, the world around Malcolm and Asta is, it seems, set to become increasingly far from ordinary. Finding himself linked to a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua, Malcolm is forced to undertake the challenge of his life and to make a dangerous journey that will change him and Lyra for ever . . .

Philip Pullman has selected his favourite tales from the Brothers Grimm and retold them in sparkling, clear and contemporary language. Pullman's selection includes all the most famous, familiar tales - 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Cinderella', 'Snow White' - alongside other equally delightful but lesser known stories.

Philip Pullman on his extraordinary retelling of the gospel stories to be published as part of Canongate’s Myth Series:
“By the time the gospels were being written, Paul had already begun to transform the story of Jesus into something altogether new and extraordinary, and some of his version influenced what the gospel writers put in theirs. Paul was a literary and imaginative genius of the first order who has probably had more influence on the history of the world than any other human being, Jesus certainly included.... The story I tell comes out of the tension within the dual nature of Jesus Christ, but what I do with it is my responsibility alone. Parts of it read like a novel, parts like a history, and parts like a fairy tale; I wanted it to be like that because it is, among other things, a story about how stories become stories.”

Philip Pullman's bestselling trilogy which comprises NORTHERN LIGHTS, THE SUBTLE KNIFE and THE AMBER SPYGLASS (the first children's/adult book to win the Whitbread Book of the Year, as well as being longlisted for the Booker Prize) has now been produced as a single volume.
Praise for HIS DARK MATERIALS:

Philip Pullman. Is he the best storyteller ever? The Observer

Move over, Tolkien and C S Lewis. Philip Pullman has completed his extraordinary cosmological tour de force…an astonishing imaginative feat. The Telegraph

As well as giving his readers stories that tick with the precision, accuracy and grace of an eighteenth century clock, he also writes like an angel…he gives his readers precisely the satisfaction they look for in a novel: well made, absorbing characters, supreme elegance of style and tone, a richly inventive landscape, and finally some very big ideas fearlessly explored. The Observer

Philip Pullman, capable of lighting up the dullest day or greyest spirit with the incandescence of his imagination. The Independent

This is remarkable writing: courageous and dangerous as the best art should be. The Times

Philip Pullman’s HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy is one of the great imaginative works in the English language. Terry Jones

The acclaimed first two novels in the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy – NORTHERN LIGHTS (THE GOLDEN COMPASS in America) and THE SUBTLE KNIFE - established this epic fantasy as a classic of imaginative fiction. In this eagerly awaited final novel Lyra and Will, lost in their separate worlds, are swept up in the cataclysmic struggle for control of the Dust of human consciousness. On the one hand lie the forces of divine oppression, led by the usurper Metatron; on the other the forces of authority led by the rebellious Lord Asriel and the angel Promethiel, once known as Lucifer. This is a spellbinding cosmic adventure story, a profound moral fable and a heart-rending story of love and survival. Motion picture/television rights to the trilogy have been bought outright by Scholastic Productions.

Will is twelve years old and he's just killed a man. Now he's on his own, on the run, determined to discover the truth about his father's disappearance.
Then Will steps through a window in the air into another world, and finds himself with a companion - a strange, savage little girl called Lyra. Like Will, she has a mission which she intends to carry out at all costs.

But the world of Cittagazze is a strange and unsettling place. Deadly, soul-eating Spectres stalk its streets, while high above, the wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. And in the mysterious Torre degli Angeli lurks Citagazze's most important secret - an object which people from many different worlds would kill to possess...

THE SUBTLE KNIFE is the second book in the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy.

When Lyra's friend Roger disappears, she and her daemon, Pantalaimon, determine to find him. The ensuing quest leads them to the bleak splendour of the North, where armoured bears rule the ice and witch-queens fly through the frozen skies - and where a team of scientists is conducting experiments too horrible to be spoken about.
Lyra overcomes these strange terrors, only to find something yet more perilous waiting for her - something with consequences which may even reach beyond the Northern Lights...

First published in 1995, NORTHERN LIGHTS, the first in the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy, was immediately recognised as a masterpiece of children's fiction. The trilogy has sold over fifteen million copies worldwide, and the books are now well-established as classics. NORTHERN LIGHTS was recently adapted as a film starring Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, under its alternative title, THE GOLDEN COMPASS.