The Golden Compass

The book is set on a slightly altered Earth in what would probably be a late 19th or an early 20th century. Of the differences from the real Earth, perhaps most notable is that people have their own personal demons - something halfway between a familiar and a personified soul.

Lyra and Pantalaimon, a young heroine of the book and her demon, undertake brave expeditions into the cellars and attics of Jordan College in Oxford, as fits a restless teenager in the midst of boring university professors. The playful forays take a sudden twist, however, when Lyra discovers a plot to poison Lord Asriel, a visitor at the College and her uncle. Lyra warns Lord Asriel and gets to covertly watch his talk about a mysterious Dust in front of the College scholars.

When Lord Asriel sets out on an expedition into the arctic regions to explore the Dust, everything seems to return to normal. But, a short while after his departure, children start to disappear throughout the country. A friend of Lyra is among the missing children, but before she can do anything about it, mysterious but beautiful Mrs. Coulter comes to claim her from the College for "proper education".

For Lyra, life with Mrs. Coulter gets boring fast. She also discovers the truth of beauty going only skin-deep, as Mrs. Coulter turns out to be a self-important despot with Victorian ideas about education. When Lyra learns that Lord Asriel is held prisoner and that Mrs. Coulter is somehow involved in both the imprisonment and the disappearance of children, she runs away, determined to fix the things on her own ...