TOMMY
About the Book
TOMMY is a children's fantasy adventure by Tokish J. Médeau. The first volume, The Great Water, follows Tommy, a young degu whose peaceful life beside a river is suddenly transformed by a devastating flood.
Separated from his father and carried far from his native meadow, Tommy finds himself travelling across a vast flooded landscape with a group of animals he has never known before. What begins as a struggle to survive gradually becomes a journey of friendship, loss, courage, and discovery.
The story combines elements of animal fantasy and adventure with a naturalistic setting. The animals retain their own physical characteristics and instincts, while also speaking, reasoning, forming relationships, and experiencing the world from their own perspectives.
Characters
Tommy
Tommy is a young degu who lives with his father beside the river. Curious, imaginative, impulsive, and easily frightened, he is still very much a child. He loves strawberries and often watches the clouds, searching for shapes that remind him of small degus.
When the flood destroys his home and separates him from his father, Tommy is carried into an unfamiliar world. Although frightened by everything around him, he repeatedly reaches out to others and gradually becomes the heart of a new group.
Father
Tommy's father is an older degu who raises him alone. Practical, hardworking, and affectionate, he teaches Tommy how to gather food and care for their burrow. He is protective of his son and tries to reassure him whenever Tommy becomes frightened or curious about the world beyond their meadow.
Patty
Patty is a partridge Tommy meets after the flood. Warm, caring, and protective, she quickly becomes a motherly figure to Tommy and Isabel. Although her wing is broken and she cannot fly, Patty remains resourceful and courageous, often taking responsibility for keeping the group together.
Isabel
Isabel is a red-eared slider who joins Tommy and Patty during their journey. Timid and cautious at first, she is particularly uncomfortable around water. Beneath the surface, however, she discovers an unexpected strength: her heavy shell becomes almost weightless, allowing her to move with surprising speed.
Isabel is gentle, practical, and quietly brave.
Karen
Karen is a gray toad with a short temper and a sharp tongue. Proud, stubborn, and easily offended, she frequently clashes with the other animals. Beneath her difficult exterior, however, Karen carries her own memories of loss and is capable of courage and tenderness.
Phil and Bill
Phil and Bill are twin chameleons who travel together. Nearly identical and constantly teasing one another, they are curious, sarcastic, and fond of provoking Karen. Their humor often breaks the tension during the journey, even when their jokes go too far.
Despite their quarrelsome nature, the twins become an important part of the group.
The Marsh Lynx
The marsh lynx is the predator encountered by Tommy, Patty, and Isabel on the fog-covered island. Silent and watchful, it turns the island into a dangerous game of hide-and-seek. Unlike the other characters, the lynx is not part of the group and follows its instincts as a predator.
Setting & Historical Context
The Great Water is set in the Rhône Valley in France.
Tommy's home is a quiet meadow beside the river, surrounded by tall grasses, wild strawberries, trees, and the small burrow he shares with his father. It is the familiar world Tommy knows before the flood.
The flood transforms the landscape completely. Meadows disappear beneath the water, trees and bushes become isolated islands, and the river becomes a vast and dangerous world through which Tommy and his companions must travel.
Flooding has long been part of the history of the Rhône Valley. Major floods have occurred when prolonged or exceptionally heavy rainfall caused the Rhône and its tributaries to rise rapidly. One of the most significant historical examples was the great Rhône flood of May–June 1856, which caused extensive flooding across the Rhône basin and remains an important reference event in the history of flooding in the region.
The flood in TOMMY belongs to the fictional world of the story. Its purpose is not to recreate a particular historical flood, but to transform Tommy's familiar meadow into an entirely different world.