A special Italian edition of Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in some countries) has just been published. The first volume of the trilogy His Dark Materials, by the English writer Philip Pullman, it was originally published in Italy thirty years ago and became one of the best-loved fantasy sagas of all time.
Eleven-year-old Lyra is nothing if not plucky. Driven by her restless curiosity, she slips into the Retiring Room at Jordan College, Oxford, only to find herself enmeshed in a web of jaw-dropping conspiracies and hidden truths. Scientists are involved, as are civil and religious authorities, along with stranger forces and creatures that defy explanation. A mystery unfolds before her – one she must confront if she is to come of age. Lyra’s quest for the truth takes her across bizarre landscapes and dreamlike worlds. Guided by a golden alethiometer and flanked by Pan – her inseparable dæmon – a living projection of her soul in animal form – she rises to the challenge. In doing so, she manages to complete her mission, showing all the courage, generosity, intelligence, and loyalty of a true heroine.
This is a novel like no other, in which the fabulous, the epic, the lyrical, and the mystical all collide in a breathless, multi-layered narrative. Northern Lights is at once a coming-of-age tale, an adventure, and a psychological novel. The story serves as an allegory of the human condition. Pullman, winner of the 2005 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize – the highest award for children’s literature – moves readers of every age by bringing great philosophical themes vividly to life.

Reading age: 13 years and up

La bussola d’oro. Edizione speciale 30 anni.

Philip Pullman

Salani Editore, 2026