I Wish I Could Tell You

There are pen and paper in a drawer, a letter to write and a little fox struggling to find the right words. He wants to write to his grandmother: she’s been very tired lately,; it’s difficult to talk to her but he’d like her to feel those feelings they’ve built together through wonderful experiences, big and small surprises, objects she’s never separated from. But no matter how much he tries, nothing appears on the page. It will only be when, one morning, mummy fox gives him the bad news that, after initial disbelief, the little one will realise that, only by embracing his pain, the right words will find the way.   Vorrei dirti (I Wish I Could Tell You) is a moving book, illustrated by Chiaki Okada, which fully expresses the poetics of Jean-François Sénéchal. The author, with his usual style, delicately brings young readers closer to the theme of separating from loved ones, but also presents writing as a way of processing and expressing love, even before pain or mourning. The choice of an epistolary form represents the perfect narrative device to directly and effectively lend a voice to the protagonist’s thoughts and the difficult attempt to find a way to say goodbye. With tenderness and depth, Sénéchal, who has already written novels for older readers, follows the crescendo of the fox’s emotions and helps the reader through all the stages of mourning: from the initial shock to denial, through pain and anger to acceptance and rebuilding. Chiaki Okada’s dreamy style accompanies the protagonist, author and reader on this journey, not drawing on a specific forest and therefore making it universal – just as the pain of loss is universal. It’s a book that takes just a few sentences to shake the soul, but also to caress it delicately.  

Vorrei dirti
by Jean-François Sénéchal
EDT, 2024