Philip Pullman, The Sally Lockhart Mysteries

Richard C. Burke (Lynchburg College)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1985 - 1994

Places

United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Children's Literature
- Young Adult

Resources

Pullman wrote these young adult novels—The Ruby in the Smoke (1985), The Shadow in the North (1988), The Tiger in the Well (1990), and The Tin Princess (1994)—before embarking on his great sequence, His Dark Materials. Adventure stories based in Victorian London, they evoke the penny dreadfuls of the period while displaying far more artistry and a sophisticated moral vision. Pullman has said that

I wrote each one with a genuine cliché of melodrama right at the heart of it . . . : the priceless jewel with a curse on it—the madman with a weapon that could destroy the world—the situation of being trapped in a cellar with the water rising—the little illiterate servant girl …

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2493 words

Citation: Burke, Richard C. . "The Sally Lockhart Mysteries". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 January 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=32153, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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