In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her.

In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearingâ victims of so-called "Gobblers"â and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.

作者简介

Philip Pullman has won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the best children's book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year Award for The Amber Spyglass; a Booker Prize long-list nomination (The Amber Spyglass); Parents' Choice Gold Awards (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work. In 2004, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Philip Pullman is the author of many books for young readers, including two volumes related to the His Dark Materials trilogy: Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North. He lives in Oxford, England.

　　菲利普·普尔曼（Philip Pullman， 1946－），20世纪以来最重要的英国童书作家之一。毕业于牛津大学，曾任西敏学院兼任讲师，教授维多利亚时期文学与民间故事，目前与家人住在英国，专事写作。除了青少年小说外，也撰写剧本与图画书。
　　他擅长采集童话、传说与类型故事元素，揉合当代议题与惊人的幽默感。以英国维多利亚时代为背景的「英伦悬疑四部曲」（《红宝石迷雾》、《北方之星》、《井底之虎》、《锡公主》），便编织了社会写实、惊悚冒险、超自然元素、蒸汽幻想等多元类型风格，人物性格鲜明，情节曲折紧凑，更跳脱成人与儿童的分界，广受好评，也奠定他在长篇小说写作上的地位。同时此套小说也成为之后国际级畅销经典「黑暗元素三部曲」的写作基调。他的珠玉小品故事，如《发条钟》、《我是老鼠！》与《卡斯坦伯爵》等，也精湛地发挥了揉合编织的功力，故事虽短，文本层次丰富而有余韵，是短篇故事的翘楚之作。