The Rose Field

The Rose Field
AuthorPhilip Pullman
IllustratorChristopher Wormell
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Book of Dust
Release number
3
GenreFantasy
PublisherPenguin Random House
Publication date
23 October 2025[1]
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
ISBN978-0-241-79757-0
Preceded byThe Secret Commonwealth 

The Rose Field is a fantasy novel by Philip Pullman.[2] It is the third volume in The Book of Dust series and the final book about the character Lyra Silvertongue.[2][3] The book was published on 23 October 2025 by David Fickling Books in association with Penguin Random House and Alfred A. Knopf.[2][3][4] The Rose Field is set directly after The Secret Commonwealth, which was published in 2019.[4]

The story follows the events of the previous book, as Lyra is alone in search of her dæmon and Malcolm has travelled in search of her.[2] It is set twenty years or so after the events of La Belle Sauvage and ten years after the conclusion of the His Dark Materials trilogy.[2]

Title

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The "Rose Field" of the title refers to a field in the sense of a magnetic or gravitational field, first mentioned in the opening chapters of Northern Lights during a discussion of the mysterious phenomenon called Dust.[3] The Rose Field was previously known as the Rusakov field. It is the field of Dust.

Conception

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Pullman experienced challenges writing the novel due to the COVID-19 pandemic and aging.[5][6] In an interview with The Washington Post, he described writing by computer instead of on paper, due to pain in his hand: "I couldn't write this one by hand as I had for the previous 50, 60 years. I had to type it all on the computer."[5] In another interview, Pullman described his feelings on the culmination of his The Book of Dust series, stating: "This whole series took 30 years. And you don't undertake a task like that unless you can do it with all your being, including your moral being."[6]

References

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  1. ^ "The Rose Field: The Book of Dust Volume Three". Penguin Books. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e Knight, Lucy (29 April 2025). "Philip Pullman announces The Rose Field, the final part of Lyra's story". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Youngs, Ian (29 April 2025). "Philip Pullman 'relieved' to finish Lyra's final book". BBC News. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  4. ^ a b Schaub, Michael (29 April 2025). "New Novel by Philip Pullman Coming This Fall". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  5. ^ a b Nguyen, Sophia (23 October 2025). "'I'm alive, but battered': Philip Pullman's new novel was a struggle". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  6. ^ a b Thomas-Corr, Johanna (23 October 2025). "Philip Pullman at 79: 'When I write, nothing bad can happen'". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 24 October 2025.