Excerpt from Philip Pullman’s new novel
The Guardian has an exclusive excerpt from Philip Pullman’s latest book, Once Upon a Time in the North, which takes place in the same world as his acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy and a few decades earlier.
The most interesting thing was the bears. The first time Lee saw one slouching casually out of an alley he could scarcely believe his eyes. Gigantic, ivory-furred, silent: the creature’s expression was impossible to read, but there was no mistaking the immense power in those limbs, those claws, that air of inhuman self-possession. There were more of them further into town, gathered in small groups at street corners, sleeping in alleyways, and occasionally working: pulling a cart, or lifting blocks of stone on a building site.
The townspeople took no notice of them, except to avoid them on the pavement. They didn’t look at them either, Lee noticed.
“They want to pretend they’re not there,” said Hester.
