New Philip Pullman ‘Book of Dust” novel coming Oct. 3

NEW YORK – Philip Pullman’s next novel will bring us an older and more independent Lyra Silvertongue, his longtime literary heroine.

“The Secret Commonwealth” will be published Oct. 3 in the U.S. and the U.K. by imprints of Penguin Random House. The novel is the second of Pullman’s “Book of Dust” series and is set 20 years after the first volume, “La Belle Sauvage.” Silvertongue also was featured in Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy. In a statement released Tuesday, Pullman said that his new novel would take Silvertongue to “a mysterious desert” in central Asia.

Silvertongue has been portrayed by several actresses on stage and screen. Dafne Keen will play her in the upcoming HBO-BBC One adaptation of the “Dark Material” books, with Tom Hooper of “The King’s Speech” fame directing.