The Secret Commonwealth cover art

The Secret Commonwealth

The Book of Dust, Volume Two

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Secret Commonwealth

By: Philip Pullman
Narrated by: Michael Sheen
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Shortlisted for Audiobook of the Year at the British Book Awards 2020.

Winner of Best Solo Narration at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020

It is 20 years since the events of La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One unfolded and saw the baby Lyra Belacqua begin her life-changing journey.

It is almost 10 years since listeners left Lyra and the love of her young life, Will Parry, on a park bench in Oxford's Botanic Gardens at the end of the ground-breaking, best0selling His Dark Materials sequence.

Now, in The Secret Commonwealth, we meet Lyra Silvertongue. And she is no longer a child....

The second volume of Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust sees Lyra, now 20 years old, and her daemon Pantalaimon, forced to navigate their relationship in a way they could never have imagined and drawn into the complex and dangerous factions of a world that they had no idea existed. Pulled along on his own journey too is Malcolm; once a boy with a boat and a mission to save a baby from the flood, now a man with a strong sense of duty and a desire to do what is right.

Theirs is a world at once familiar and extraordinary and they must travel far beyond the edges of Oxford, across Europe and into Asia, in search for what is lost - a city haunted by daemons, a secret at the heart of a desert and the mystery of the elusive Dust.

The Secret Commonwealth is truly a book for our times; a powerful adventure and a thought-provoking look at what it is to understand yourself, to grow up and make sense of the world around you. This is storytelling at its very best from one of our greatest writers.

©2019 Philip Pullman (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Coming of Age Literature & Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Fiction Fantasy Emotionally Gripping

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes cover art

Critic reviews

“Michael Sheen throws himself wholeheartedly into narrating this sequel to La Belle Sauvage and listeners will be rapt. For the ever-expanding international cast of characters, Sheen conjures a multitude of accents and delivers rapid-fire conversations between them. He's in step with the text at every turn; when situations become fraught or dangerous, Sheen ramps up the tension exquisitely. Thanks to Pullman's intricate storytelling and Sheen's propulsive narration, listeners will be on the edge of their seats right up to the cliff-hanger ending.” (AudioFile)

Most relevant  
If you loved his dark materials you will love this book.

Faster paced that La Belle Sauvage, and left on a cliff hanger. Lots of characters from his dark materials make an appearance and the story does require you to have read that trilogy first.

Michael Sheen is excellent reading this.

I can not wait for the third installment.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I really enjoyed this book, especially as I listened to it directly after hearing the Belle Sauvage story and found it made much more sense having done so.
The story has great continuity from the previous book and tackles several of the themes underlying our own culture to great effect . These sections make uncomfortable reading and listening of course.
I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Before buying this book I had read several reviews complaining about the rural accents of the main characters and those comments nearly put me off my purchase. However I think the accents are entirely correct..Lyra was brought up by Staff ..servants of the college, not by any scholars..who would be far too involved with their own work to deal with a baby/ toddler/ young girl. Alice, who looked after her is consistently portrayed as a hard working but earthy girl/ woman with none of the refinements or RP that those naysayers seem to want to project onto Lyra.
I’m so glad I wasn’t put off by any negative reviews.

Continuing story of Lyra et al

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

why a girl educated at an Oxford college would sound like a west country farm girl defeats me and was irritating to boot. Lyra's naivety also was somewhat incongruous with her life experiences to this point.

Lyra's daft accent was absurd.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

unbeliveably good, huge cliff hanger, mr sheen should read every book including the northern lights trilogy, he is amazing. I cannot wait for the next book!

michael sheen is incredible! what a story!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I really enjoyed this and couldn't stop going back to it. Exemplary storytelling and I am keen for last book in series to come out.

The storytelling and Michael sheen were excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

If Pullman’s constantly interweaving themes, so relevant to our modern lives and yet so entwined in an other-worldliness are not enough to keep you entertained, Michael Sheen’s narration will. Every character is brought to life distinctively and believably, bringing Lyra’s world into ever more vivid clarity as the story, and the pace, quicken.

Epic storytelling and narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Philip Pullman, once again, outdoes himself. Fantastic story, great characters, only complaint is that we have to wait for the third installment!

Do I really have to wait....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Micheal Sheen is an amazing narrator I wish he would do more! What an ending!

Gobsmacked!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Fabulous narration by Michael Sheen, like Stephen Fry and Harry Potter... he has a huge scope changing the characters voices bringing the story alive! Perfect!

Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Michael Sheen is amazing reading, nay performing this thrilling book! Going to look for the sequel!

Excellent performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews