“LUNA SOFIA? SHE STAYED WITH ME FOR ELEVEN YEARS. AT SOME POINT, I REALIZED SHE WANTED TO LEAVE.” Fabio Ingrosso.
Some stories arise from a specific project, while others begin almost by chance—perhaps in front of a small toy washing machine found at a flea market on the Navigli. Luna Sofia and Berenice’s Hair, published by Salani, belongs to the second category: an adventure that stayed with its author for eleven years, passing through life’s seasons, transformations, and waiting periods, until the right moment came for it to reach bookstores.
Fabio Ingrosso, an artist with an eclectic career spanning music, theater, radio, and television, this time lends his voice to the written page. At the heart of the novel is Luna Sofia, an eleven-year-old girl with naturally lilac hair, which she initially saw as a difference to be hidden.
Her journey through stars, constellations, and surprising encounters thus becomes a path of growth and acceptance, where magic intertwines with science and adventure brings to light deeply human themes: separation, guilt, change, loss, and the ability to recognize one’s own worth.
With humor and sincerity, Ingrosso takes us behind the scenes of a narrative universe born from an image and grown alongside him. A fantastical world that invites young readers to look up at the sky, but also to look within themselves. Because, as Luna Sofia teaches us, what makes us different isn’t necessarily a limitation: it can be the very starting point from which we begin to shine.
Fabio, let’s start with the inevitable question: how did Luna Sofia and Berenice’s Hair come about?
From a washing machine. And just from that, you can tell it’s not just any story. Eleven years ago, I was walking along the Navigli and saw a small toy washing machine—blue and silver—at a flea market. I bought it without really knowing why. Then I thought, “What if I pressed a button and the drum started spinning until it sucked me inside and carried me off into space?” That’s how WondaWash was born. From there came the idea of having a protagonist who would go on adventures: Luna Sofia. And then everything else followed. The crazy thing is, I still have that washing machine.
So can we say you wrote 327 pages because you couldn’t resist a compulsive purchase at the Navigli flea market?
Exactly. It’s a warning against vintage markets. No, just kidding!
The truth is that little washing machine sparked something. I think a lot in images. First I see a scene, a color, an object. Then I start wondering what’s behind it. That’s exactly how it happened with Luna Sofia: at a certain point, I wasn’t just inventing a world anymore. I’d stepped into it.
At this point, I can’t help but ask: who is Luna Sofia?
She’s an eleven-year-old girl who was born in New York with a trait that’s pretty hard to ignore: her hair is naturally lilac. And there’s no other case like it in the world. She hates it.
Luna Sofia just wants to be like everyone else. She hides her hair, hides her lilac freckles, and desperately tries not to stand out. Then her family falls apart, she’s sent to a small Texas town to live with her grandfather, and just when she thinks her life couldn’t get any more complicated…
A mini washing machine catapults her among the stars; she meets a stoat-shaped backpack with a questionable British accent; she visits constellations, faces mysteries, forms friendships, and gets into plenty of trouble.
A talking ermine?
Wasabi. And be careful not to just call him a “talking ermine,” because he’d probably take offense. Wasabi has a self-esteem that’s far greater than his size would suggest. He’s one of my favorite characters.
He has one lemon-yellow eye and one bottle-green eye, a white coat with mustard-colored paws, and says things like “By all the galaxies!” He’s funny, absurd, and sometimes unbearable. But as the story unfolds, he becomes something much deeper. I’d almost call him a guide for Luna Sofia. A mentor.
The book is very entertaining, but beneath the adventure, it tackles important themes. How much of yourself is in it?
Much more than I realized while I was writing it. My parents separated when I was eleven. The same age as Luna Sofia. And there’s a question a child might ask when their family changes: “Is it my fault?”
I didn’t want to write a book about separation. I wanted to write an adventure. But I also wanted there to be a truth beneath the adventure. Things don’t always go back to the way they were. The desire we have at the beginning isn’t always what we really need in the end.
At some point, Luna Sofia realizes that dreams change; they adapt to life. And that doesn’t make them any less beautiful. That line belongs to her, but it belongs to me quite a bit, too.
And then there’s that lilac hair.
Yes. At first, Luna sees it as her problem. She’d like to get rid of it, cover it up, be “normal.” But her journey slowly leads her to realize that the very thing she’s tried to hide can become her strength.
That’s the heart of the book. I don’t really believe in the message “you have to become special.” I prefer: start with what you have and make it better. Don’t try to be what you’re not.
That’s also where “Shine from within” comes from. It’s not just a phrase thrown in to make for a nice Instagram quote. In the book, it takes on a specific meaning and comes at a very important moment.
You’ve written a fantasy, but there’s a lot of reality in it.
That’s something I cared about deeply. Magic has rules. Constellations really exist, as do astronomical coordinates and many of the scientific elements Luna encounters.
I love the idea that a child might finish the book, look up at the sky, and think, “Wait… but does Coma Berenices really exist?”
And if they then spend five minutes looking at the stars instead of their phone, I’d expect at least one bonus point for humanity.
Why “Berenice’s Hair” of all things?
Because it’s a very special constellation. “Berenice’s Hair” already sounds like the title of a story.
Then I discovered the legend, the stars that make it up, everything I could hide within that name. And that’s when I realized it would become much more than just a destination.
There are quite a few things like that in the book: they seem like details, and maybe a hundred pages later you discover they weren’t details at all.
So you also built a mystery?
Absolutely!
I wanted the reader to be able to figure out the answers. The clues are there. I don’t like it when, at the end of a mystery, a piece of information pops up that no one could have known, and the author says, “Surprise!” No, thanks. That’s not a surprise—it’s cheating!
In *Luna Sofia*, certain elements recur and shift in meaning. Something that seems like a problem at first can become a solution. A seemingly funny detail can turn out to be crucial. I like letting the reader figure some things out on their own.
It took you eleven years to publish it. Did you ever think about letting it go?
I let it go several times. The problem is that it wouldn’t let me go.
Since I spent part of my childhood in America and am bilingual, I wrote the first draft in English. Then a lot happened: work, music, television, other projects, attempts that didn’t go as I’d hoped. At one point, I could have put it away for good.
But instead, I always kept coming back to it.
When Salani came along, I had a very strange feeling: not that I’d finally “won,” but that I’d arrived at the place where this story was meant to be.
And after eleven years, seeing *Luna Sofia* physically on the bookstore shelves was… hard to explain.
The book is dedicated to your mother.
Yes.
The dedication reads: “To my mom, who somewhere up there is proud of me.”
She wasn’t able to see the book published. That’s probably the part of this whole story I find hardest to joke about.
When I held the first copy in my hands, I inevitably thought of her. There are milestones you imagine sharing with someone, and then life decides otherwise.
But I like to think that, somehow, this story reached her too. And perhaps “Shine from Within” means that to me today as well.
After so many years in the world of music and television, how does it feel to be called a “writer”?
It’s all very new, but wonderful!
I’ve sung, done musicals, written songs, worked in television, been a radio announcer, a host… apparently I still had a few more jobs to add to keep my tax accountant busy.
But telling stories has always been the common thread. The medium changes. Sometimes it’s a song, sometimes it’s a stage, sometimes it’s a microphone. This time, it’s 327 pages.
And how are readers reacting?
I’m sensing so much enthusiasm. That’s perhaps the best surprise of all. When someone talks to me about the book after reading it, very often they don’t talk about the “plot.” They talk about Luna Sofia, Wasabi, Mei Mei, and Landon as if they knew them.
And that’s exactly what I was hoping for.
I didn’t want readers to observe Luna Sofia from the outside. I wanted them to experience everything through her: to see what she sees, to know only what she knows, to make mistakes alongside her. If, when you finally close the book, it feels for a few seconds like you’re saying goodbye to friends, then it worked for me.
One last question. The ending wraps up the story, but leaves the door slightly ajar. Should we be worried?
I wouldn’t say so… but never say never!
One thing, however, was essential to me: *Luna Sofia and the Hair of Berenice* had to have a real ending. I can’t stand it when you buy a book, get to the last page, and discover that you’ve actually been reading page after page of advertisements for Volume Two.
The story that begins in this book ends in this book.
But in the final pages, just when you’re ready to say goodbye to the characters, you realize that some loose ends haven’t been tied up yet.
Is that a coincidence? No. That wouldn’t be my style.
Because Luna Sofia and the Hair of Berenice is the beginning of a bigger story.
For now, I can’t say anything else except that… “WondaWash takes you everywhere.”
Through extraordinary adventures, distant worlds, talking backpacks, and cherished friends, Luna Sofia will discover that her unique qualities aren’t flaws to be hidden, but the thread that connects her to a legendary comet, a courageous grandmother, and a story that spans time and generations. Because true light doesn’t come from the stars. It comes from within each of us.
