Discovering the Golden Compass

New to The Golden Compass? Don’t feel lost--or alone! This accessible, illustrated guide is the only passport you’ll need to Philip Pullman’s imaginative world of His Dark Materials. Written especially for newcomers, Discovering The Golden Compass tells you everything you’d want to know in reader-friendly prose, supplemented with dozens of photographs and illustrations.

Book highlights: Pullman’s 10,000-word autobiographical essay talking about his life and work; a 16-page full color insert of new photos showing Oxford, the "city of dreaming spires," in all its glory; 15 new pen-and-ink illustrations and a full color painting by former Disney artist and Imagineer, Tim Kirk; and complete coverage of Pullman’s talk at the Oxford Literary Festival, in which he and The Golden Compass film producer, Deborah Forte, talk about the considerable challenges in bringing the book to film.

Newcomers will especially welcome the book-by-book look at Pullman’s trilogy--The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Minimizing spoilers, Beahm explains what each book is about, discusses the key characters, places, and things, and also quotes Pullman, his fans, and critics on the work itself. Plus extensive information about Lyra’s Oxford and an advance peek at The Book of Dust.

With information about the various adaptations of The Golden Compass (film, theatrical, and audio), illuminating essays on daemons, the alethiometer, and Dust, and a section devoted to additional resources for readers who want to know where to go for more information, Beahm’s book is your ticket to Pullman’s imaginative universe.

Beahm, with 30 published books, has previously explored the fictional universes of noted writers, including Stephen King, Anne Rice, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and J. K. Rowling.

Book Excerpts

Table of Contents

A Note to Newcomers

Press Review/Article

VOYA Review by Bonnie Kunzel