On the Wings of la Noche, a 2025 YA novel by Vanessa Torres, presents a modern story of coping with death, journeying to the afterlife, and a Mexican legend known as La Lechuza, all set right here in the Northland.
The story follows Noche, a teenager who masquerades as an owl at night, transporting the souls of the recently deceased to the afterlife. However, these nightly activities are challenged when Noche's girlfriend dies in an accidental drowning.
While the story stays grounded in the real world, the fantasy elements take flight through the use of the Mexican legend of La Lechuza.
"My grandmother... used to tell me a lot of ghost stories and a lot of them were about lechuzas," says Torres. "They used to totally scare me when I was a kid because her version, and really the traditional version of a lechuza in Mexican mythology, is that they are... scary witchy women, who shift into an owl, and it's a human sized owl... and they're not doing good things with your soul."
Torres will be at Zenith Bookstore from 1-3pm on Saturday the 8th, and at The Bookstore at Fitger's starting at 1:30pm on Sunday the 9th to sell and sign copies. On the Wings of la Noche can also be found at various online book retailers.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
