“Il divano blu,” a picture book with text by Claudia Ravaldi and illustrations by Chiara Cunati, published by CiaoLapo Edizioni, is now available in our charity shop.
We present it to you in the author’s own words.
How did this story come about?
“The Blue Sofa” stems from an image that is part of a personal memory: a large sofa, situated between the window and the playroom. I wanted to start from there—from an ordinary space in the house—and let it slowly become something else. I believe that certain places, through life’s significant experiences, end up holding a part of us and can tell a story that words alone cannot convey.
The sofa in the book, in fact, seems to be much more than just an object.
Yes, for me it has never been just an object. It’s a physical space, of course, but it’s also a mental and emotional place. It’s the heart of my old home and, at the same time, an inner place. I wanted to find the right space to embrace difficult experiences and express them gently: the waiting, the vulnerability, the hope, the fear, the loss, and the time that follows.
In the book, this space is contained but not enclosed.
The blue sofa has a high backrest that allows one to escape, if necessary, from the gaze of the world, yet it remains open to the world, as can be seen from the characters who appear throughout the pages: it is a protected place, yet a living one. A place where one can take shelter, yet from which one also continues to look out. It seemed important to me—precisely because the story deals with grief, and grief creates isolation and excruciating loneliness—to emphasize how precious it is to have a refuge that offers just enough protection while keeping one’s connection to the outside world open.
At one point, the beat of “a tiny heart” appears. It’s a powerful image.
I think the power of tiny hearts is greatly underestimated: whether we like it or not, tiny hearts reshape people’s inner sense of time, which is no longer measured by a clock, a planner, or a calendar, but through their heartbeats. These tiny hearts set a new rhythm that gives meaning to time and places waiting outside the realm of time as we usually experience it. This new rhythm is never lost, no matter what happens, because it becomes an embodied, intimate, and profound memory.
I wanted the story to convey that rhythm, and for the reader to feel its echo.
Who is this book intended for?
The blue sofa can speak to people of all ages because it lends itself to multiple levels of interpretation: it speaks of presence, of waiting, of absence, and each person can offer their own personal interpretation. As I wrote, I thought above all of grieving parents, young people, and adults who are directly or indirectly confronted with perinatal grief—such as young healthcare workers—all of whom are often left to fend for themselves, without a blue sofa to serve as a refuge and a safe haven.
The picture book tells a story open to a wide range of interpretations: the presence of cats scampering through the pages, resting on the armrests, or waiting for the weather to clear up makes it ideal for reading together with children. As always, adults should read the book for themselves before reading it to children, and they should take care to listen respectfully to the children’s reflections and questions, allowing them to flow freely without rushing to find “right” answers or solutions that apply to everyone.
How does this book relate to CiaoLapo’s work?
CiaoLapo has been working for twenty years to give voice, form, and recognition to experiences that, because of their harshness, are systematically silenced by society. We work to offer support for perinatal grief, but also to promote cultural change regarding abortion and perinatal death. *The Blue Sofa* is a simple story that recounts the time of waiting, the time of saying goodbye, and the very first moments after grief, to spark reflection on perinatal bereavement and build bridges between the borderlands we inhabit.
You can find “Il Divano blu” here.
