Tumbler

Tumbler is a retelling of a popular French legend, about Tristan, a medieval acrobat, who travels the country with a troupe of entertainers. After a nasty fall during a performance, Tristan has to convalesce at the local monastery whilst the troupe moves on. While he recuperates, Tristan decides that now is the perfect opportunity to realise his childhood ambition of serving God, by becoming a novice monk himself.

Tristan struggles to adapt to life in the monastery and he is not accepted by a number of monks who look down on him. Everything changes when the Abbot sees an angel watching over Tristan after he falls during a clandestine acrobatic session. The Abbot says God obviously wants Tristan to serve Him by doing what he is best at – tumbling.

The oil pastel or acrylic illustrations, with roly-poly characters reminiscent of Breugel, are visually striking and most effective when perspective is ignored. However, in many illustrations conventional rules of perspective are applied and the resulting inconsistency is a source of minor irritation.