Northern Lights (novel)

Northern Lights (better known in the US and Canada, and the film-going public, as The Golden Compass) is the first in a trilogy of novels ("His Dark Materials") by Philip Pullman. It was followed by The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

The novel tells the story of Lyra Belacqua (aka "Lyra Silvertongue") (and her daemon, Pantalaimon, who is part of herself) -- a young girl on the brink of puberty who gets swept up in a series of adventures touching the very nature of reality in her world. It turns out that she is at the center of what is happening.