Today we’re thrilled to be able to share the cover reveal for Rym Kechacha’s upcoming faerie tale fantasy THE APPLE AND THE PEARL, due for publication 3rd February 2026 from Titan Books.

Before we check out the cover, here’s the official blurb:

As dawn breaks on All Souls Day, the lingering mists part to unveil an unending vista of serried gravestones. Between them looms a theatre like a haunted house from a horror film and the sleek iron carapace of a steam train – the Pearl. On board are the cast, orchestra and crew of a travelling ballet company, performing a show called The Apple and the Pearl. Nine o’ clock in the morning and as he stumbles toward the restaurant car the lighting director, Zach, is introduced to a new recruit, Lara.

“Have you ever worked in ballet before?” he asks her and quickly follows up with, “Have you had any contact with the supernatural?”

Everyone from the principal ballerina to the first violinist, from the wardrobe mistress to the newest members of the corps de ballet does everything they can to get the show on stage and looking fantastic. But in the world of The Apple and The Pearl these artists also have to contend with the malevolent glamour of an audience of Fae creatures only too eager to snatch them away into the Otherworld.

The Apple and the Pearl is due for publication 3rd February 2026 – you can pre-order your copy on TitanBooks.com or Bookshop.org

And now for the cover…

Cover Artist – designed by Julia Lloyd

How gorgeous and intriguing is this cover?? I love the delicacy of the blossoms against the movement of the wings!

Here’s what Rym had to say:

“I’m so thrilled for Titan to be publishing The Apple and the Pearl. Set over the course of a single day in the life of a touring ballet company, the dancers, musicians and crew of the company have to put on a perfect show – all the while navigating their relationships, their secrets and evading the unique dangers of their audience.

This cover is so beautiful and it represents the book and its quirks so perfectly. I can’t wait for readers to discover the novel wrapped in this gorgeous package!”

Praise for The Apple and the Pearl:

“Kechacha’s skill is matchless. The Apple and the Pearl is an evocative, beautifully weird celebration of performance, desire, and camaraderie.” — Aliya Whiteley, award-winning author of The Beauty 

“Shadowing a touring company across a single day, The Apple and the Pearl is an intricately woven tapestry of hopes, fears and dreams, as its ensemble cast wrestle with the things they can’t escape and those they must leave behind. At once deeply human and gorgeously strange, this is a fierce and tender portrait of life in thrall to art.” — E. J. Swift

The Apple and the Pearl is due for publication 3rd February 2026 – you can pre-order your copy on TitanBooks.com or Bookshop.org

Rym Kechacha is the author of Dark River and To Catch a Moon, and a teacher. Her debut novel, Dark River, was shortlisted for the BFA Best Novel and Best Newcomer awards. She previously trained as a ballet dancer and danced professionally with Northern Ballet for three years. Born in Epping, east London, she now lives in Norwich with her family, a lot of books, and a much-loved and messy garden.