LYRA SILVERTONGUE thought her adventuring days were long over. Now a twenty-year-old undergraduate at St. Sophia's College, she could almost begin to doubt that she'd once traveled to the world of the dead were it not for the painful separation from her daemon, Pantalaimon.

But intrigue is swirling around Lyra once more. Pantalaimon witnesses a brutal murder, and the dying man entrusts them with secrets that carry shocking echoes of their past. They learn of a city haunted by daemons, and of a desert rose said to reveal the nature of Dust.

Even these small scraps of knowledge are dangerous. Lyra is being watched and followed--and inexorably drawn back into a battle she thought she'd left behind.

On the run, she seeks refuge with the gyptians, and finds a surprising new ally in Malcolm Polstead. But hers aren't the kind of troubles you can hide from. And the journey in front of her is one Lyra must navigate alone if she is to emerge whole.

This description comes from the publisher. The Secret Commonwealth is the second volume of The Book of Dust; this is the sequel series to the His Dark Materials series, the first of which is The Golden Compass or Northern Lights.