Some people ARE illegal.
Lobizonas do NOT exist.
Both of these statements are false.
Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who’s on the run from her father’s Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.
Until Manu’s protective bubble is shattered.
Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past—a mysterious “Z” emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.
As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it’s not just her U.S. residency that’s illegal. . . .it’s her entire existence.
We are so happy to have Romina Garber here talking about Lobizona!
TWP: I heard in a virtual young adult panel that your story is based on the curse of the seventh son, an Argentinian superstition that seventh sons will turn into werewolves. That is so interesting. Can you tell us a little more about that?
RG: Thank you! The ley de padrinazgo presidencial 20.843 declares the President of Argentina godparent to the seventh consecutive son or daughter in a family. When I researched the history of this law, fact and folklore seemed to blend together, and I stumbled across a curse on seventh children. It claims the last daughter in a row of seven is a bruja, and the seventh son is a lobizón. Werewolf. No one can say for sure that this superstition and this law are connected—but just as significantly, no one can say for sure that they aren’t. . . .
TWP: That is so interesting. As is the world you created. For readers, and writers, like me who are stuck in contemporary society, can you tell us your process for building such a detailed world that includes brujas and magic, werewolves and their transformation, and the rules surrounding Lunaris?
RG: When I decided to use paranormal elements to explore the immigrant identity, I didn’t want to stick with the traditional transformation lore I’m used to reading. Instead, I wanted to explore these beings’ dual heritage as humans and supernatural creatures, which is why I created Lunaris—a realm that’s the source of their magic, where they return every full moon.
Given that the worldbuilding and messaging go hand-in-hand, I wanted to emphasize the characters’ connection to Nature. The werewolf myth already fits with the lunar cycle and the menstrual cycle, so I tied the brujas’ magic to the elements, their power sprouting from the soil and flowing through the seas. My intent was to remind readers that we may live in different worlds, but we are all creatures of the same planet.
TWP: Of course we know readers will love every aspect of your novel, but if there is one thing you would like them to take away from it, what would it be?
RG: Thank you! I hope readers will become more aware of the ways we use language to create cages for ourselves. I approached Lobizona as more or less a treatise on labels, with particular emphasis on the dehumanizing power of one word: illegal. My hope is that we will stop being so quick to categorize and classify and define others and ourselves.
TWP: That is a fantastic takeaway and something so needed in our world today. Thank you for being a part of The Winged Pen today! You can find Romina out and about answering questions about Lobizona and writing. You can also find her on social media. Twitter: @RominaRussell and Instagram: @RominaGarber. And don’t forget to get your copy of her book. You can find it here: https://read.macmillan.com/lp/lobizona/
ROMINA GARBER (pen name Romina Russell) is a New York Times and international bestselling author. Originally from Argentina, she landed her first writing gig as a teen—a weekly column for the Miami Herald that was later nationally syndicated—and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Her books include Lobizona. When she’s not working on a novel, Romina can be found producing movie trailers, taking photographs, or daydreaming about buying a new drum set. She is a graduate of Harvard College and a Virgo to the core.
Praise for Lobizona!
“With vivid characters that take on a life of their own, beautiful details that peel back the curtain on Romina’s Argentinian heritage, and cutting prose that shines a light on the difficulties of being the ‘other’ in America today, Romina Garber crafts a timely tale of identity and adventure that every teenager should read.”–Tomi Adeyemi New York Times bestselling author of Children of Blood and Bone
“Romina Garber has created an enthralling young adult fantasy led by an unforgettable Latinx character Manu. In Manu we find a young girl who not only must contend with the injustice of being undocumented she also discovers a hidden world that may explain her very existence. I fell in love with this world where wolves, witches and magic thrives, all in a rich Latinx setting!” –Lilliam Rivera, author of Dealing in Dreams and The Education of Margot Sanchez
