Beautiful but evil, “pure, poisonous toxic malice” personified, Mrs Coulter is one of Philip Pullman’s most compelling creations. Now – tantalising those readers who have been holding out for The Book of Dust, the long-promised follow-up to His Dark Materials – the novelist is set to provide a glimpse into her early life in a new short story set in his alternate version of Oxford.



The story, The Collectors, is Pullman’s first return to the universe of Lyra Belacqua, the heroine of his acclaimed trilogy, since he published the prequel novella Once Upon a Time in the North six years ago. The Collectors was written exclusively for digital audiobook provider Audible, a subsidiary of Amazon, and becomes available for members today, narrated by the award-winning actor Bill Nighy.

Audible said today that the tale would reveal “a little something extra to fans of Lyra and her world”. It is set in the senior common room of an Oxford college on a winter’s night, and sees the new characters Horley and Grinstead discuss two works of art Horley has just acquired. “Little do they know that these pieces are connected in mysterious and improbable ways, and that both of them are about to be caught in the crossfire of a story that has travelled through time and between worlds,” said Audible.

Pullman revealed that Mrs Coulter was the subject of one of the paintings. “It’s set nearly 50 years ago. I just got them talking and let them lead it to the denouement,” he said.

“I was intrigued by Mrs Coulter and her villainy. I thought it would be nice to show her as a younger woman, in a different sort of context. And the idea of collectors and collecting things, of being greedy, is a fascinating psychological state.”

Pullman said he had only written one or two short stories before. “I find it very difficult as a form. With a novel you can sprawl out, go down blind alleys – it’s a much bigger, looser thing. With a short story, you have to be tight,” he said.

“But I enjoyed it. It was nice to find another way to reveal details about Lyra’s world.”

Northern Lights, the first book of his trilogy, was published in 1995, introducing readers to a world where each human has their own animal “daemon”, and where a young girl, Lyra, sets out to rescue her best friend. It won Pullman the Carnegie Medal. The Subtle Knife followed in 1997, introducing Will, a boy from our own world, with the trilogy wrapped up in 2000’s The Amber Spyglass, which won the Whitbread book of the year, the first ever children’s book to do so.

Pullman has since published the short Lyra’s Oxford, featuring an older Lyra. A “sort of stepping stone between the trilogy and the book that’s coming next”, it was released in 2003, and was followed in 2008 by Once Upon a Time in the North, the story of the first meeting between Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison.

The “book that’s coming next” is The Book of Dust, a novel set in the same universe which Pullman has been working on for years. He writes on his website: “My work on this has been interrupted over the past couple of years, but the book is growing slowly and before long I shall take it up again full-time. What can I tell you about it? Nothing, except that it’s by far the most important thing I’m doing, and I intend to do it as well as I possibly can. When it’s finished, you’ll hear about it, I guarantee.”

He said today: “It’s three pages longer this morning than it was this time yesterday, and ... I’ll do another three pages today. It’s going steadily. But it’s a big book and it’s spreading out in the way I discussed, and I keep having to discover which ways are fruitful for the story to go in, and which are not. It’s a long process.”

Pullman promised: “I’m aiming to finish this next year. Then it’s a fairly lengthy process of editing. But I’m well on my way and proceeding steadily.”

• The Collectors is available as a free download from today, for Audible members.