Serpentine (book)

Serpentine was not originally intended for publication but was instead written in 2004 at the request of Nicholas Hytner (at that time artistic director of the National Theatre) to be auctioned for charity during the NT production of His Dark Materials; the work sold for a "substantial sum".[1] At the time of writing Pullman had not intended to revisit Lyra as an adult but after the publication of The Secret Commonwealth decided to issue the novella as it prefigures Lyra and Pantalaimon's character development in The Book of Dust.[1]

In this story, a teenage Lyra and her dæmon Pantalaimon revisit Trollesund, the Arctic town prominently featured in Northern Lights as the place of her first meeting with the aeronaut Lee Scoresby and the armoured bear Iorek Byrnison. They seek the witch-consul Dr. Lanselius in the hope of finding answers to their ability to separate.[1]

An audiobook narrated by Olivia Colman will be released on the same day as the print and ebook versions.[1]