Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, is the first novel in English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 novelist Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...

's His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...

trilogy. Published in 1995

1995 in literature

The year 1995 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea is opened by Jimmy Carter....

, the fantasy novel is set in a universe parallel to our own and tells of Lyra Belacqua

Lyra Belacqua

Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...

's journey north in search of her missing friend, Roger Parslow, and her imprisoned father, Lord Asriel

Lord Asriel

Lord Asriel is a major character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series and one of the main protagonists of Northern Lights.Asriel is a member of the English aristocracy in a parallel universe dominated by the Church...

, who has been conducting experiments with a mysterious substance known as Dust

Dust (His Dark Materials)

Dust in Philip Pullman's trilogy of novels His Dark Materials is a mysterious cosmic particle that is integral to the plot. In Northern Lights, Lord Asriel reveals the origins of the term "Dust" to be from a passage from the slightly alternate version of the Bible in Lyra's World: "In the sweat of...

. Winner of the Carnegie Medal

Carnegie Medal

The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...

 in 1996, the novel has been adapted into a Hollywood feature film, released in 2007 as The Golden Compass along with an accompanying video game

The Golden Compass (video game)

The Golden Compass is an action-adventure game developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Sega. The game is based on the novel-adapted movie of the same name. It was released in December, before the movie, for all major consoles...

.
For some time during the pre-publication process, the series of novels were known as The Golden Compasses.