There’s a lot in the title of this book: “On the Wings of la Noche” (Knopf 2025), by Vanessa L. Torres. It means, “On the wings of the night.”
Much of the story takes place at night and sometimes in the skies. Also, the 17-year-old main character is named Noche. She shape-shifts into a jet-black owl to escort those who have died upward to the afterlife. She is a “Lechuza.”
It’s new to her, and she has questions. Her father cooks and sells (and gives away) awesome Latino food, and her mother is an EMT. They’re aware of their only child’s unusual talent and are supportive, but they don’t know how to help her. She’s clearly troubled.
Apart from her parents, no one knows she’s a Lechuza. Not even her two best friends, Julien, the high school hockey superstar; nor Dante, Noche’s girlfriend.
Before the story has even begun, Dante has drowned in Lake Superior when the girls were together one winter evening in Duluth, Minn. Dante’s parents are furious with Noche. Noche’s grief is deep and confusing to her.
Instead of escorting her girlfriend to the afterlife, she tries to keep her soul nearby. She just can’t say goodbye. Plus, she’s estranged from her lifelong friend, Julien, and doesn’t attend his hockey games. Instead, she’s in the woods with Dante’s spirit or trying to find Dante’s spirit to have another conversation, another kiss.
Noche, Dante and Julien used to be inseparable. Noche knows Julien must be grieving as well, so she’s guilty about not supporting him.
Noche becomes more confused when sparks fly between her and her biology lab partner, Jax, the new kid in school. Jax clearly cares for Noche, but he’s respectful of her love for her deceased girlfriend.
Jax has a big scar on his chest. Why? If Noche likes Jax, is she being disloyal to Dante? This heaps on the guilt she already feels.
In time, Noche gets buzzed by another owl, who turns out to be another Lechuza. Evie comes from a whole family of Lechuzas. Finally, Noche can get some answers from this family of Lechuza women and feel less isolated. But some of them are pretty prickly.
Dante’s soul has faded
so much that Noche can’t find her at the lakeside. Time is running out. What will happen if she can’t do her required job of delivering Dante’s soul to the afterlife?
The diversity in this story steeped in Mexican folklore gives texture to the well-written work. Noche and Dante are both Latinas, Julien is Sioux, and Jax is Asian. Young readers interested in love, mythology, death and acceptance will be drawn in.
Patricia Hruby Powell is the author of award-winning books signed and for sale at Jane Addams Book Shop.
