# Serpentine (book) > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Serpentine_(book) > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Serpentine_(book).md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentine_(book) > Source revision: 1222990783 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 2020 novella by Philip Pullman Serpentine Author Philip Pullman Cover artist Tom Duxbury Language English Genre Fantasy Publisher Penguin Random House Children's Publication date United Kingdom: 15 October 2020 (2020-10-15) Publication place United Kingdom Media type Print (Hardback) Pages 80 ISBN 9780241475249 ***Serpentine*** is a [fantasy](/source/Fantasy) [novella](/source/Novella) written by [Philip Pullman](/source/Philip_Pullman), set after the events of his *[His Dark Materials](/source/His_Dark_Materials)* [trilogy](/source/Trilogy) and before the events of *[The Secret Commonwealth](/source/The_Secret_Commonwealth)*, the second book of his *[The Book of Dust](/source/The_Book_of_Dust)* trilogy. The manuscript was originally sold at a [charity auction](/source/Charity_auction) in 2004 and the book was publicly released in October 2020.[1] ## Origins *Serpentine* was not originally intended for publication but was instead written in 2004 at the special request of [Nicholas Hytner](/source/Nicholas_Hytner) (then the artistic director at the [Royal National Theatre](/source/Royal_National_Theatre)) to be auctioned for charity during the company's production of *[His Dark Materials](/source/His_Dark_Materials_(play))*; the work sold for a "substantial sum".[1] At the time of writing Pullman had not intended to revisit Lyra as an adult but after the publication of *[The Secret Commonwealth](/source/The_Secret_Commonwealth)* decided to issue the novella as it prefigures Lyra and Pantalaimon's character development in *The Book of Dust*.[1] ## Synopsis In this story, a teenage [Lyra](/source/Lyra_Belacqua) and her [dæmon](/source/D%C3%A6mon_(His_Dark_Materials)) Pantalaimon revisit Trollesund, the Arctic town prominently featured in *[Northern Lights](/source/Northern_Lights_(Pullman_novel))* as the place of her first meeting with the aeronaut [Lee Scoresby](/source/List_of_His_Dark_Materials_and_The_Book_of_Dust_characters) and the armoured bear [Iorek Byrnison](/source/List_of_His_Dark_Materials_and_The_Book_of_Dust_characters). They seek the witch-consul Dr. Lanselius in the hope of finding answers to their ability to separate.[1] ## Audiobook An audiobook narrated by [Olivia Colman](/source/Olivia_Colman) was released on the same day as the print and ebook versions.[1] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Philip_Pullman_to_release_unseen_His_Dark_Materials_novella_in_October_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Philip_Pullman_to_release_unseen_His_Dark_Materials_novella_in_October_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Philip_Pullman_to_release_unseen_His_Dark_Materials_novella_in_October_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Philip_Pullman_to_release_unseen_His_Dark_Materials_novella_in_October_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Philip_Pullman_to_release_unseen_His_Dark_Materials_novella_in_October_1-4) Flood, Alison (9 July 2020). ["Philip Pullman to release unseen His Dark Materials novella in October"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/09/philip-pullman-his-dark-materials-novella-serpentine-october). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*. Retrieved 16 August 2020. - [Children's literature portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Children%27s_literature) v t e Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust His Dark Materials Northern Lights The Subtle Knife The Amber Spyglass The Book of Dust La Belle Sauvage The Secret Commonwealth The Rose Field Companion books Lyra's Oxford Once Upon a Time in the North The Collectors Serpentine The Imagination Chamber Characters Lyra Belacqua Will Parry Lord Asriel Mrs. Coulter Adaptations His Dark Materials (stage play) The Golden Compass (film) soundtrack "Lyra" The Golden Compass (video game) His Dark Materials (television series) La Belle Sauvage (stage play) Other Locations Races Dust Dæmons Category v t e Works by Philip Pullman Sally Lockhart The Ruby in the Smoke (1985) The Shadow in the North (1986) The Tiger in the Well (1990) The Tin Princess (1994) His Dark Materials Original novels Northern Lights (1995) The Subtle Knife (1997) The Amber Spyglass (2000) Companion books Lyra's Oxford (2003) Once Upon a Time in the North (2008) Serpentine (2020) The Book of Dust La Belle Sauvage (2017) The Secret Commonwealth (2019) The Rose Field (2025) Other The Haunted Storm (1972) Galatea (1978) Count Karlstein (1982) How to be Cool (1987) The Broken Bridge (1990) The Butterfly Tattoo (1992) The Firework-Maker's Daughter (1995) Clockwork (1996) I Was a Rat! or, The Scarlet Slippers (1999) The Scarecrow and his Servant (2004) The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (2010) This article about a fantasy short story (or stories) is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Fantasy-story-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AFantasy-story-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Fantasy-story-stub) This article about a short story (or stories) for children is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Child-story-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AChild-story-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Child-story-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Serpentine (book)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentine_(book)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpentine_(book)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.