Once Upon a Time in the North - Philip Pullman

This is another element in the His Dark Materials saga. This book explores the first meeting of Lee Scoresby, the Texan balloonist, and Iorek Byrnison - the armoured bear. The sense of cold in the far north has seeped into the human inhabitants and made them devious and politically corrupt. Lee and Iorek form an unlikely alliance that will help some of the innocent people caught up in the problems in the town of Novy Odense.

This is a superb short novella - illustrated beautifully by engravings by John Lawrence. It is also a lovely object in itself with cloth cover and quality paper production. Any reader of HDM must read this.