Lyra's Oxford
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David Fickling Books to Publish New Philip Pullman Story
Lyra's Oxford - a beguiling and intriguing new episode from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials universe and other matter never before seen in this world…
David Fickling Books is delighted to announce the worldwide publication of Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman.
Originally conceived as a small, local celebration of the powerful literary associations that Philip has forged with his home city of Oxford, Lyra's Oxford grew in the making. It soon became clear that this brand new work by Philip was going to be very exciting and would have wide international appeal. Philip met with his publisher David Fickling, and together with top design group Trickett and Webb, they chose and commissioned the master engraver and illustrator John Lawrence to illustrate the project.
Philip then wrote a wonderful story, which refers to the map that the reader will have in this edition, and also all the extraneous matter including advertisements from Lyra's world, which will so delight fans of the trilogy.
In Lyra's Oxford the reader will share the excitement of discovering a small bundle of material that has somehow slipped between Lyra's universe and our own. It will include as well as the story fully illustrated intricate maps and other ephemera from Lyra's universe. The text will be illustrated throughout in beautiful black and white wood-blocks together with specially printed three-colour pull out maps of Lyra's Oxford. No expense has been spared to make a publication which could 'perhaps' have come from a parallel universe.
The world John is illustrating, and Philip is describing, is of course not our Oxford but the Oxford of Brytain, with steam trains and Zeppelins to London, and where a witch's daemon can be seen flying in the skies above Oxford…
The story of Lyra's Oxford finds Lyra with her daemon Pantalaimon after the end of The Amber Spyglass. Sitting on the roofs of Oxford she sees a daemon, the daemon of a witch, a bird, a storm petrel, flying towards her pursued by a huge flock of starlings. Birds play a big part in this story. And a mystery unfolds…
Lyra's Oxford stands alone from the trilogy, and can be read as such or as a companion to the other titles. It both looks back affectionately to the trilogy and whets the appetite for Philip's next novel in the His Dark Materials sequence the forthcoming The Book of Dust. No fan will want to be without it.
David Fickling says, ' This is pure story-telling delight. In my view this is one of the finest pieces of writing that Philip Pullman has ever produced. And he told me he couldn't write short stories! I am afraid I can't agree, Philip. And John Lawrence's illustrations complete it beautifully. Less can indeed be more. In this case short is very sweet indeed.'
'We're wonderfully fortunate to be able to include Lyra's Oxford to our Fall list,' remarked Chip Gibson, President and Publisher, Random House Children's Books in the USA. 'Any new work from Philip Pullman is a literary masterpiece, but to publish this new glimpse into the His Dark Materials saga is truly an auspicious occasion.'
Random House UK will control world rights in all languages and will be organising co-edition printings with the foreign publishers of the His Dark Materials trilogy, in association with Philip's agent Caradoc King of AP Watt.
Lyra's Oxford by Philip Pullman, illustrated by John Lawrence published by David Fickling Books, 28th October 2003, Ł9.99 0385 606990