OXFORD landmarks - including the Bodleian Library and The Trout Inn - take centre stage in Philip Pullman’s long-awaited new novel, which is released today.

The author, who lives in Cumnor, chose the Bodleian’s 17th century Convocation House for the launch of La Belle Sauvage, the first instalment in a new trilogy.

Copies of La Belle Sauvage went on sale at midnight at Blackwell's and Waterstones in Broad Street, as fans gathered to buy copies for £20.

The stories in The Book of Dust will feature characters from Mr Pullman’s renowned His Dark Materials trilogy, including Lyra Belacqua, this time appearing as a baby.

La Belle Sauvage, which returns to the Oxford inhabited by Lyra in Northern Lights, features key locations in Oxford and its waterways.

These include the Bodleian’s Duke Humfrey’s Library, The Trout Inn at Wolvercote, Godstow Priory, Jericho, and Exeter College - the model for Jordan College in Mr Pullman’s books.

The writer said La Belle Sauvage was not targeting any particular age group but admitted that the new book contained more adult themes.

He said: “His Darker Materials? I think that is true.

“I have got older too - more cynical and closer to despair - I don’t know.

“It is a darker book - I can not deny that but it is the story that came to me and wanted to be told.”

Mr Pullman said the second instalment of The Book of Dust, which he has already completed, will feature Lyra as an undergraduate.

La Belle Sauvage is being published by David Fickling Books and Penguin Random House 17 years after The Amber Spyglass, the third part of His Dark Materials came out.

Mr Pullman revealed that health issues may have contributed to the long wait for La Belle Sauvage.

He said he had been ill for ‘a number of years’.

The father-of-two, who lives with wife Jude, added: “It was a surgical operation that did the trick - it was quite hard to work for some time.

“That is perhaps why the book has taken so long to appear.

“I have felt confined and restricted by my health but I’m feeling a little better now.”

Mr Pullman took the opportunity to urge teachers to tell children more stories in schools.

He added: “That is what I enjoyed most when I was a teacher.

“School libraries have never been a statutory requirement and they should be - every school should have a library and a trained librarian on the staff.”

The author said he had ‘hugely enjoyed’ getting to know new characters, including 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead.

He added: “I’ve loved watching the story expand across the years and take me to places I have never dreamed of.”

Bodley’s Librarian Richard Ovenden, one of the first people to read 546-page La Belle Sauvage, said it surpassed his own expectations and described it as a gripping, multi-layered page turner.

Mr Pullman’s publisher David Fickling said the storytelling was "utterly magnificent".

He added: “You settle into a Philip Pullman book with such wonderful ease.”