The pilot gingerly untangled his fingers from the rope he'd been holding on to, worked out which way up he was, shifted the tool box off his legs, wiped the oily water out of his eyes, and hauled himself upright.

"Well, Hester, looks like we're getting the hang of this," he said.

His dæmon, who looked like a small sardonic jackrabbit, flicked her ears as she clambered out of the tangle of tools, cold-weather clothing, broken instruments and rope. Everything was saturated.

"My feelings are too deep to express, Lee," she said.

You can read the excerpt from Philip Pullman's prequel to His Dark Materials here. Once Upon A Time in the North will be out on April 3 and is available to preorder from Amazon already.