Tourmaline

Somewhere far away, a beautiful princess called Tourmaline is imprisoned in a tall tower. Only the bravest knight of all can free her. Knight after knight is sure that he’s the bravest, but they all fail in their quest. They get tangled up in the forest, lose their way in a cornfield, don’t want to get their cloak dirty, become distracted or their horse lets them down. Luckily there’s one fearless knight who doesn’t let anything daunt him. Or should that be: daunt her?

Fatinha Ramos displays all her talents as an illustrator in this humorous fairy tale. Her dynamic compositions, balanced palette and simplicity of style greatly enrich Davide Cali’s text. At the denouement, when the brave knight Onyx turns out to be a woman and Tourmaline is delighted to see him, ‘especially when he took off his helmet’, Ramos playfully inserts a rainbow over the heads of the two women. A gentle, funny and atmospheric plea for more openness and less prejudice.