Northern Lights (Novel)

Northern Lights

The Golden Compass (US)

Author Philip Pullman

Cover artist Philip Pullman & David Scutt

Country United Kingdom

Language English

Series His Dark Materials

Genre(s) Fantasy, Steampunk

Publisher Scholastic Point

Publication date 1995

Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Pages 416 pp

ISBN ISBN 0-590-66054-3

Followed by The Subtle Knife

Northern Lights is the first novel in the His Dark Materials series, written by British novelist Philip Pullman and published in 1995.

The superficial resemblance of protagonist Lyra Belacqua's alethiometer (depicted on the book's cover) to a large compass caused the North American publishers of Northern Lights to retitle the book The Golden Compass.[1] In fact, The Golden Compasses was an early proposal for the name of the trilogy (instead of His Dark Materials), taken from Milton's Paradise Lost, where it refers to the drawing instrument, rather than the navigation instrument.[1]

Northern Lights won the Carnegie Medal for children's fiction in the UK in 1995[2], and in 2007 it was selected by judges of the Carnegie Medal as one of the ten most important children's novels of the past 70 years.

Contents [hide]

1 Plot summary

2 Film

3 Video game

4 See also

5 Further reading

6 References

7 External links

[edit] Plot summary

The story begins when Lyra Belacqua--an orphaned, eleven-year-old girl residing at Jordan College--secretly enters the Retiring Room, despite resistance from her dжmon, Pantalaimon; an animal-formed, shape-shifting manifestation of her soul. Inside the room, they see the Master of Jordan College attempt to poison Lord Asriel, Lyra's uncle. Lord Asriel shows the resident scholars a picture of mysterious elementary particles called Dust. Shortly afterwards Lord Asriel goes north, and Lyra continues with her normal life.

However, before long her friend Roger is kidnapped by "the Gobblers", who are the subject of a children's superstition. Lyra vows to rescue him, and finds her chance when a visiting woman of great importance, Mrs. Marisa Coulter, offers to take Lyra away from Jordan College to become her apprentice. Lyra assents, but before she leaves is entrusted with a priceless object by the Master of the College: an alethiometer. Resembling a golden compass, it is a device able to reveal the answer to any question asked by the user. Although initially unable to read or understand its complex meanings, Lyra takes it with her to Mrs Coulter's flat. Lyra becomes suspicious of Mrs. Coulter's motives when Mrs Coulter's dжmon searches Lyra's room for the alethiometer.

At a party hosted by Mrs. Coulter, Lyra discovers that Mrs. Coulter is the head of a church organization known as the "General Oblation Board" and that this board is, in fact, the "Gobblers" who have been kidnapping children. The horror of this discovery causes Lyra to take advantage of the hubbub of the party to flee Mrs. Coulter's flat.

After fleeing the flat she is rescued by the gyptians, a group of nomadic, canal-boat-dwelling people, who afterwards reveal that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are none other than Lyra's father and mother. She also learns that many children like Roger have been disappearing from among the gyptians, and that the gyptians are planning an expedition to the north to rescue the missing children. During her time with the gyptians, Lyra intuitively learns how to operate the alethiometer.

Lyra joins the expedition to the north, and on the journey discovers that the children kidnapped by "the Gobblers" are having their dжmons cut away from them, by way of experiment. Shortly after this revelation, the group is attacked, and Lyra is taken to the experimentation facility in Bolvangar.

Inside it, she locates Roger and builds up a plan of escape, but is caught trying to flee. Lyra comes across Mrs. Coulter, who is trying to steal the alethiometer. Narrowly escaping her clutches once again, Lyra leads the other children out of the facility, and is rescued by Lee Scoresby (an aeronaut who is an ally of the gyptians) in his hot air balloon. With them go Roger and an armoured bear called Iorek Byrnison. Iorek is an exiled prince of the armoured bears, of whose culture he is a perfect example.

Now Lyra has found Roger, she wishes to deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel, who is imprisoned at Svalbard, the fortress of the armoured bears, because of his experiments on Dust, which the Church opposes. On their way to Svalbard the balloon is attacked by the batlike cliff-ghasts; Lyra is thrown out, but lands safely. She is then captured by the armoured bears. She manages to trick the usurping bear-king, Iofur