La Belle Sauvage, the first volume in the Book of Dust trilogy – Philip Pullman’s prequel to the His Dark Materials series – begins with plucky 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead learning of the existence of six-month-old Lyra Belacqua, whose future as a thorn in the side of the church’s oppressive ruling body, the Magisterium, is foretold. The product of an affair between Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel, Lyra has been left in the care of the nuns at an Oxford priory where Malcolm sporadically helps out with the cooking. When a flood overtakes the Thames Valley, Malcolm becomes Lyra’s protector, bundling her into his cherishedcanoe which he has named, La Belle Sauvage.
The actor Michael Sheen is our narrator, delivering a perfectly paced, richly textured performance as he takes on a dizzyingly large cast of characters. Along with our questing protagonist, Malcolm, and his teenage accomplice, Alice, there is also gentle Sister Fenella; the booming Lord Asriel; and the villainous Gerard Bonneville, former agent of the Magisterium. Sheen’s rendering of Bonneville’s daemon, a vicious three-legged hyena, is deliciously chilling.
La Belle Sauvage fleshes out a world many will know from His Dark Materials: as well as introducing us to the future heroine, Lyra, it reveals the secrets of the alethiometer (also known as the golden compass), and lays the groundwork for the battles over Dust, a strange particle associated with consciousness. While the scale of Pullman’s story is epic, Sheen’s reading of it is intimate, revealing the inner life of a young boy who must be brave and resourceful in the face of extraordinary forces.
• La Belle Sauvage is available via Random House Audiobooks, 13hr 14min
Further listening
The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice
Shon Faye, Penguin Audio, 9hr 57min
The former lawyer and journalist reads her book, laying out the challenges facing the trans community and how they might be resolved.
Booth
Karen Joy Fowler, Hachette Audio, 13hr 44min
This Booker-longlisted tale about the life of John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, is read by January LaVoy.
