Michael Sheen Returns to Narrate Philip Pullman's THE SECRET COMMONWEALTH Audiobook
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Penguin Random House Audio has announced that award-winning Welsh actor Michael Sheen (Passengers, Frost/Nixon, The Twilight Saga, Good Omens) is narrating the US and UK audiobook edition of Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Listening Library; on sale October 3, 2019).
Sheen, a self-confessed Pullman fan, narrated the first volume in The Book of Dust sequence, La Belle Sauvage, in 2017 and returns to lend his voice to The Secret Commonwealth. The second volume sees heroine Lyra Silvertongue, now an independent young woman, forced to navigate a complex and dangerous new world as she ventures far beyond the edges of Oxford, across Europe and into Asia, in search of an elusive town said to be haunted by dæmons.
Michael Sheen says, “There’s something wonderful about being so immersed in a world that I love so much: that’s the great privilege of narrating this audiobook. The worlds and characters that Philip Pullman has created matter; they mean a lot to me and to other people as well, and I hope that Philip’s happy with my interpretation of the characters, their dynamics and relationships.
“I’ve become so invested in Lyra through the His Dark Materials series and into this new one. In The Secret Commonwealth I found myself so moved by what she goes through and what she’s struggling with.”
Philip Pullman comments, “I am thrilled that Michael Sheen will be returning to read the audiobook of The Secret Commonwealth. Michael was phenomenal in his reading of the characters in La Belle Sauvage, even leading to an award win last year. I have no doubt that listeners will continue to be moved and entertained by his exhilarating performance.”
The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth will be published simultaneously in audiobook, hardcover and eBook formats on October 3, 2019. A film adaptation of the bestselling His Dark Materials series is slated to premiere this fall on HBO starring Dafne Keene, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, and Lin Manuel Miranda.