The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage

Thomas Nugent, the former lord chancellor of England, ruled during “a more liberal time” (14). Now, the norm is “obsequious submissiveness to the religious authorities” (14), and Nugent directs an organization that secretly works against the religious authorities. This is often dangerous and difficult work, but now, for the first time, Nugent must protect a baby from people who want to capture her, and in some cases, kill her.

The morning after Malcolm meets Nugent in the Trout, he visits the priory. He finds Sister Fenella peeling potatoes and begins to help while he tells her about the Trout’s guests and their questions about the priory. Sister Fenella has never heard of a baby being sheltered in the priory but thinks Sister Benedicta should know the men were asking questions. She tells Malcolm that refugees or people on the run from authorities sometimes claim sanctuary in oratories and wonders if that is why the men were asking. Malcolm points out that a baby couldn’t break the law, and he tells Sister Fenella he plans on taking his canoe out later in the day. He tells her he’d like to take a long voyage to the sea, but his parents need his help in the inn.

Malcolm cleans off his canoe, thinking he needs to repaint the craft soon, and paddles upstream. As he glides through the canal, he sees a pair of crested grebes, rare waterbirds he has heard of but has never seen. He hides in the reeds, watching the birds. Asta is in the form of a kingfisher, and she points out a man that Malcolm overlooked. He is standing under a tree, and as Malcolm watches, the man’s cat-shaped dæmon drops something on the ground. The man and his dæmon frantically look for the object but hurry off before Asta and Malcolm can step out of the reeds and offer to help.

Transformed into a squirrel, Asta finds a carefully carved replica of an acorn under the tree. Malcolm turns to catch up with the man and return the acorn, but he sees him hesitating in the middle of a footbridge. Two men appear on either side of the bridge. They each seize one of the man’s arms and march him away. Alarmed, Malcolm hides the acorn in his pocket, and he and Asta hurry home. Asta suggests that the men were from the Consistorial Court of Discipline, a branch of the Church that punishes heretics and unbelievers. Malcolm doesn’t know what the CCD does, but he knows it inspires a “sense of sickening terror” (23).

He arrives home just before dark and hurries to his room, where he and Asta examine the acorn. They discover that the acorn top opens by unscrewing clockwise instead of counterclockwise, and they find a tightly folded sheet of thin paper inside. Malcolm reads a cryptic message telling the recipient to ask the alethiometer about a connection between Dust and a Rusakov field. Before Asta and Malcolm can make sense of the letter, Malcolm’s mother calls him downstairs.

That night in the Trout, Malcolm’s father points out two men from the CCD whom Malcolm immediately recognizes from the bridge. One of the men beckons Malcolm over and shows him a picture of one of the men from the Terrace Room. Malcolm answers honestly that he recognizes the man, but he doesn’t mention the questions about the priory and the baby. The man turns his inquiry to the inn at large and hangs the picture on the bulletin board, pulling down other notices. A drunken patron, George Boatwright, demands he replace the flyers and then tears the man’s picture off the wall. The room becomes tense. The CCD man’s vixen dæmon walks forward slowly, leaving Boatwright’s dæmon cowering in fear. The man instructs Boatwright to wait outside and calmly hangs up another flyer before following him. However, by the time the CCD man leaves, Boatwright has vanished.

Malcolm is unsettled by strange interruptions in his world where usually “everything [is] interesting and happy” (33). He repeatedly visits the oak tree, hoping to find the owner of the acorn, with no luck. He finally confesses to Mrs. Carpenter, the owner of the boat shop, that he is looking for the man, and she produces a newspaper displaying a drowned man who fits his description. The article claims the man’s death was an accident, but Malcolm is alarmed. He leaves Mrs. Carpenter and discusses the news with Asta, wondering if the CCD men killed him and how they can learn more about what happened. He paddles his canoe home in the rain and returns to a bustling inn and an impatient mother. She tells him that the famous explorer Lord Asriel had been in for supper and that his six-month-old baby daughter is being kept at the priory. She tells Malcolm that Lord Asriel had an affair with a woman called Mrs. Coulter, and when Mr. Coulter found out, he threatened to kill Asriel, so the two men fought to the death.

Three days later, as soon as he can get away, Malcolm rushes to the priory to learn more about the baby. He finds Sister Fenella in the kitchen, and she confirms that the nuns are keeping a baby girl named Lyra. However, she tells Malcolm that Lyra’s presence is “a great secret” and he shouldn’t tell anyone else. He points out that many people already seem to know and asks Sister Fenella if anyone from the CCD has visited. He tells her about the incident at the Trout. She knows nothing about it, but he can tell she is troubled by the information. Before he leaves, Sister Fenella takes him to see Lyra asleep in her crib with her tiny dæmon, Pantalaimon, in the shape of a chick. Malcolm is immediately enchanted by the child, vowing to become “her servant for life” (44).

Three men talk at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. The host Gunnar Hallgrimsson, a professor of metaphysical philosophy, is joined by Axel Löfgren, a professor of experimental theology, and a gyptian called Coram van Texel. As they pour wine, Coram tells the other men that he wants to consult the alethiometer, a “truth measurer” in Dr. Hallgrimsson’s possession, about the dangers the gyptians face as the government tries to limit their freedom. Hallgrimsson tells Coram that it would be possible to get an answer from the alethiometer but that it is not simple. To explain, he produces the instrument, which looks like a clock with four hands and 36 pictures around the edge instead of numbers. He explains that, to ask a question, the reader uses knobs to point three of the hands at symbols; the fourth hand then swings to different symbols to answer the question. The difficulty is that the symbols hold many meanings, so considerable skill and study are needed to read the alethiometer.

Hallgrimsson tells Coram that there are six alethiometers, but only five are accounted for. He relays how the CCD tried to take the Oxford alethiometer by force after the librarian refused to surrender it. Now, he says, a small group of scholars there study the device. Coram listens attentively, but in reality, he isn’t interested in the alethiometer and soon changes the subject, mentioning Lord Asriel. After insisting that he doesn’t “listen to gossip,” Hallgrimsson tells Coram the story of Asriel and Mrs. Coulter’s relationship and the murder of Mr. Coulter. He mentions that Mrs. Coulter has recently visited the college, asking questions about the Rusakov field, which Löfgren describes as a field of particles responsible for human consciousness, a topic considered dangerous by the Church. Finally, the professor shares that Mrs. Coulter learned her daughter is the subject of a prophecy made by the witches and wanted to ask the alethiometer about Lyra’s whereabouts, even though she previously showed little interest in her daughter.

Content with what he learned, Coram leaves. His cat dæmon, Sophonax, tells Conan they are being followed, and they take shelter in an alleyway. Coram slides a fighting stick out of his sleeve, and they wait for their pursuer. Finally, a man appears with a frightening, hyena-shaped dæmon. He and Coram fall into combat while their dæmons attack one another. When the hyena dæmon catches Sophonax’s head in his jaws, Coram desperately lashes out at the creature, feeling bones snap under his stick. Wounded, the man seizes his dæmon and flees. Coram is also injured but returns to his boarding house, where he writes a coded letter to Lord Nugent, telling him of the evening’s events.

Dr. Hannah Relf is a scholar studying the alethiometer at Oxford. In her official capacity, she researches the meaning of the hourglass symbol on the alethiometer. However, she also uses the instrument to support a secret organization called Oakley Street. She doesn’t know exactly what the organization does, but she understands from the questions they put to the alethiometer that they oppose the religious authorities.

Hannah is worried because the acorn that usually carries her instructions did not appear in the appointed location. She has been asking the alethiometer for its whereabouts, but she cannot understand the resultant symbols: the fish, the boy, and the inn. Hannah and her dæmon are trying to work out the answer when Hannah suddenly remembers an inn on the banks of the river. The library assistant confirms an inn called the Trout in Godstow.

The next day, Hannah visits the Trout, and when she sees Malcolm, she asks him about an acorn. The boy is visibly shocked. He speechlessly nods to confirm he has information, and Hannah tells him that she will write her address in her book and pretend to forget it. Malcolm should then come to visit her the following day.

When he arrives the next afternoon, Malcolm produces the acorn but waits until he sees that Hannah knows how to unscrew it properly, clockwise, before giving her the hidden letter. Hannah makes them mugs of chocolatl, akin to hot cocoa, while Malcolm peppers her with questions. She explains what the alethiometer does, but she hesitates when he asks about Dust. She tells him that Dust is a kind of elementary particle but is difficult to investigate because the Magisterium, the Church’s head authority, thinks that Dust is “sinful,” although Hannah doesn’t know why. Then Hannah asks Malcolm about the CCD men who came to the Trout. She wants to know if they are looking for a baby. Surprised, Malcolm tells her about Lyra and asks about the law of sanctuary. Hannah tells him that Jordan College is the only college that still offers sanctuary, and one must ask by speaking a particular Latin sentence to the Master.

As their conversation wraps up, Hannah tells Malcolm she wants to stay in touch. She suggests he borrow books as a cover; he can select two titles from her library and they can meet every week to discuss the books, and Malcolm can also report anything suspicious. She is glad to see Malcolm’s enthusiasm as he scans her shelves, but she also feels guilty for asking him to spy and putting him in potential danger.