1. The Book of Dust is a story in three parts. The first part is set ten years before the events of His Dark Materials, and the rest of the story takes place twenty years after that: in fact, ten years after Lyra comes home to Jordan College after her adventure in the Arctic at the end of The Amber Spyglass.
2. Alethiometers, daemons and the Magisterium all feature!
3. The story will focus on some new characters, as well as an ordinary boy who eagle-eyed readers may have spotted in Lyra’s story before. With Lyra, he is caught up in a terrifying adventure that takes him into a new world…
4. Their tale is pretty topical - it centres on the struggle between a despotic and totalitarian organisation that wants to stifle speculation and enquiry, and those who believe that thought and speech should be free.
5. Rather than a prequel or a sequel to His Dark Materials, Philip describes The Book of Dust is as an 'equel' - a new story that stands beside his previous trilogy.
6. Like His Dark Materials, it will be released in three parts. Part One will be published on 19th October 2017 - 22 years after Northern Lights was published in July 1995.