A richly atmospheric fantasy set across one day, as a ballet troupe of lost souls perform an ancient dance for the faerie realms, knowing they could be snatched away by their audience of faerie princes, imps and sprites at any moment.
For fans of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Caraval by Stephanie Garber, Pantomime by Laura Lam and The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee.
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.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
For fans of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Caraval by Stephanie Garber, Pantomime by Laura Lam and The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee.
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.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Praise for this book
"A luscious, mesmerizing tale of the dangerous land that lies between the art and the artist, and the deep, profound emotion we find there." - Christina Henry
"Poetic, witty, relatable and bewitching ... Readers are sure to be entranced." - Lexy Hudson
"A mesmerizing performance both on and off stage. It is a tale liminal, magical, with an underlying melancholic lull, like a mourning ballad, an eulogy for both people and memories with a sinister creeping tugging at the thin veil casted over the lurking shadows. Hypnotic and haunting, The Apple and the Pearl interweaves the spiritual and musical, while illuminating the sacrifices necessary for art and theatre." - Ai Jiang
"A beautiful, strange, bittersweet piece of faerie-fruit, The Apple and the Pearl performs the trick of the very best fantasy: it uses a wondrous backdrop of magic to sharply and brilliantly illuminate human nature. I ached, I cried, I devoured it eagerly. And I recommend it to everyone - but especially to dancers, musicians, and everyone who's ever fallen in love with the guts of a theatre." - Freya Marske
"A taut, soaring dance of a novel formed from precision, muscle, and grace; it moves through your body and lingers long after. Superb." - Tashan Mehta
"Equal parts enchanting and horrifying, The Apple and the Pearl is a stunning meditation on art: the gritty emotions that make us human, and the monstrous appetites an artist must cater to. A shocking sensual story wrapped in glossy ethereal tulle; a tale that is deeply nuanced, yet deceptively effortless." - Kritika H Rao
"Dazzlingly lush prose marks a series of unforgettable character portraits in this literary fantasy masterpiece." - Caitlin Rozakis
"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
"Kechacha's skill is matchless. The Apple and the Pearl is an evocative, beautifully weird celebration of performance, desire, and camaraderie." - Aliya Whiteley
"Poetic, witty, relatable and bewitching ... Readers are sure to be entranced." - Lexy Hudson
"A mesmerizing performance both on and off stage. It is a tale liminal, magical, with an underlying melancholic lull, like a mourning ballad, an eulogy for both people and memories with a sinister creeping tugging at the thin veil casted over the lurking shadows. Hypnotic and haunting, The Apple and the Pearl interweaves the spiritual and musical, while illuminating the sacrifices necessary for art and theatre." - Ai Jiang
"A beautiful, strange, bittersweet piece of faerie-fruit, The Apple and the Pearl performs the trick of the very best fantasy: it uses a wondrous backdrop of magic to sharply and brilliantly illuminate human nature. I ached, I cried, I devoured it eagerly. And I recommend it to everyone - but especially to dancers, musicians, and everyone who's ever fallen in love with the guts of a theatre." - Freya Marske
"A taut, soaring dance of a novel formed from precision, muscle, and grace; it moves through your body and lingers long after. Superb." - Tashan Mehta
"Equal parts enchanting and horrifying, The Apple and the Pearl is a stunning meditation on art: the gritty emotions that make us human, and the monstrous appetites an artist must cater to. A shocking sensual story wrapped in glossy ethereal tulle; a tale that is deeply nuanced, yet deceptively effortless." - Kritika H Rao
"Dazzlingly lush prose marks a series of unforgettable character portraits in this literary fantasy masterpiece." - Caitlin Rozakis
"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
"Kechacha's skill is matchless. The Apple and the Pearl is an evocative, beautifully weird celebration of performance, desire, and camaraderie." - Aliya Whiteley
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Used availability for Rym Kechacha's The Apple and the Pearl