The second part of Philip Pullman’s Book Of Trilogy, The Secret Commonwealth, will be arriving on hardback later in 2019, so here’s everything you need to know about the paperback release date, ebook and audiobook age range. It’s the follow-up to La Belle Sauvage, which came out in 2017, and if you missed the opening book in the trilogy, you can find out more with our audiobook review for more info.
Where La Belle Sauvage was the prequel to His Dark Materials, Book II is the beginning of the sequel to everything that has come before it. Lyra is 20 and an undergraduate in Jordan College, Oxford University, where she grew up before being taken in by Mrs. Coulter years before. She will be journeying far once again with Pan at her side as she is drawn into a new set of mysteries with Dust back at the centre of it all.
AdvertisementThe Secret Commonwealth will also reunite us with Malcolm, and his daemon Asta, who helped save Lyra when she was just a baby in La Belle Sauvage. The story picks up with him as a fellow at Jordan College and while it sounds like his journey will be separate from Lyra’s initially, we’re expecting them to join forces before the book draws to a close.
With such a huge series behind it and two much-loved characters at the heart of the story, this is going to be a hardback, ebook, paperback and audiobook release that is sure to have fans of the series waiting with baited breath. If that isn’t enough, the synopsis also refers to a city haunted by daemons, a secret hidden at the centre of a desert and a journey through Europe and Asia, so this is clearly going to be yet another fantasy epic from Philip Pullman.
AdvertisementUK hardback, ebook and audiobook release
The Secret Commonwealth audiobook, ebook and hardback release date has been confirmed for the 3rd October 2019, so it’ll be out well in advance of Christmas. The narrator for the audiobook hasn’t been confirmed as of yet, but La Belle Sauvage was read by Michael Sheen, who did an excellent job, so it would be great if he returned for Book II. We’ll update with more details on the narrator as they’re announced.
You can follow Philip Pullman on his official Twitter page at twitter.com/PhilipPullman if you want to keep up with the latest on The Book Of Dust as more details come out about the release. You can also find out more about the BBC and HBO adaptation of His Dark Materials, which looks impressive.
Paperback release date UK
As you might expect with the hardback, ebook and audiobook release still to come in October 2019, the paperback release date hasn’t been officially set yet and you’ll have to wait some time before it arrives. However, there’s more than enough to go on in terms of when to expect The Secret Commonwealth on paperback.
Firstly, La Belle Sauvage was first published on the 19th October 2017 and then went on to be released on paperback on the 6th September 2018, 322-days later. If you follow a similar release schedule for The Secret Commonwealth then you should be looking at the end of summer 2020 (21st August to be more precise).
However, that’s a little far away from the all important Christmas spending spree, so publishers Penguin Books could push the paperback release back a little later. It won’t be further in the year than La Belle Sauvage was, though, so worst case scenario it’ll be the first week of September 2020.
The Secret Commonwealth audiobook age range
Obviously, The Secret Commonwealth hasn’t been released yet, so the age range we’re expecting is based on the previous books in the series, in particular La Belle Sauvage, which is its closest comparison in terms of direction. There were a fair few dark sections in the opening story of The Book Of Dust, so you might want to consider Book II with a 12+ age rating, but also take into account how readers have reacted to scares previously.
We’ll add in more details as they become available, but the information above should give you a good idea of what to expect from it when the hardback, ebook and audiobook release date comes around in early October. You can see more on the book at Penguin Books.
