Welcome to 1987. Let’s sit in on a session with high school guidance counselor Mrs. Wylie and Frances Fye (the female protagonist in Trowbridge and Fye). Mrs. Wylie is a bespectacled middle-aged woman who insists on dressing like she’s in a synth pop band (a bowler hat and a wide-shouldered neon-print sports jacket). Fran, age fifteen, wears baggy, blue-and-white striped pants and a t-shirt emblazoned with a turtle and the slogan “going nowhere fast.” Her brown hair is pulled into a ponytail and her face is devoid of makeup. She perches on the edge of a chair across from the counselor and hugs her red book bag tightly.

Mrs. Wylie: You’ve got color in your cheeks, Frances. Might I assume you’re feeling better this week? Finally setting aside the storybooks and the grief a bit?

Fran: (shrugs) I guess so. I made a couple new friends.

Mrs. Wylie: (beaming) Excellent! Tell me more.

Fran: You know the new boy, Nevin Carlow? He sits in front of me in English lit. And then I made a…I guess you’d call him a phone friend. It was a wrong number, but we just kept talking. He’s called a few times now.

Mrs. Wylie: Nevin Carlow seems charming, but is it safe to have conversations with a wrong number caller, Frances? Does your mother know about him?

Fran: (shrugs again) He doesn’t know where I live or anything. And he’s British. We talk about books and music. Nothing creepy.

Mrs. Wylie: Hm. I still don’t like the idea.

Fran: I think he’s just lonely. And maybe sick. He wheezes a lot. But he’s nice to talk to. A good listener. No one’s listened to me like he does since Gramps died. (She picks at a loose thread on the hem of her shirt.) Can we talk about something else?

Mrs. Wylie: I suppose. But I do think one of us should have a chat with your mother about this mystery caller, Frances. He could be dangerous. Life isn’t a fairy tale, you know.

Fran: I think life is absolutely a fairy tale. Full of magic and wonder. Flaxen-haired heroes, wicked queens, nasty pixies, foot-chopping stepsisters—

Mrs. Wylie: Chopped feet? Good heavens!

Fran: It’s from classic literature. The Brothers Grimm’s Cinderella is not as pretty as the Disney version.

Mrs. Wylie: (frowning) Perhaps you should stick to your assigned reading list. You’re studying Shakespeare with Mr. Hunt this quarter, I believe.

Fran: Also full of fairies and murder, but…

Mrs. Wylie: (sighs) Okay, okay. But let’s consider your grades, Frances. You’re still failing two classes. (She grins and perks up as an idea strikes her.) Hey, I know! You and Nevin could study together at the county library. It’s quiet there, and swarming with librarians who’ll make sure he minds his manners. Boys, you know. They can be like octopi at this age. I know Nevin looks like a young Prince Charming, but looks can be deceiving. He could be a wolf in disguise. Like in one of your stories? No offense to the boy, or to you, of course. I would have fallen for him myself at your age. All that blond hair, his gleaming smile—

Fran: (blushing scarlet) Was that the bell? (stands, clutching her bag, and bolts for the door.) I’ll study this week. Promise! Bye!

Mrs. Wylie: (muttering to herself) That girl. All those fairy stories she reads are going to land her in trouble, mark my words.

Will Mrs. Wylie’s prediction come true? Find out in Trowbridge and Fye, coming May 12 from Carrie Anne Noble and Oliver Heber Books.

Want to know more about Trowbridge and Fye?

Fairy tales are fun…until your life becomes one.

It’s 1987, and fifteen-year-old Frances Fye might be a little too obsessed with fairy tales. But when grief and the loneliness of small-town life threaten to overwhelm her, stories carry her off to magical adventures.

Then a new boy shows up at school—mysterious, magnetic, and shockingly similar to Fran’s favorite fictional hero. And when a wrong-number phone call leads to friendship with Trowbridge, an exiled bridge troll with sinister intentions, Fran’s world cracks wide open.

Suddenly, the fairy tales she’s always loved aren’t just stories anymore. They’re real—and dangerous.

Entangled in the deadly schemes of fae royalty, she has little choice but to depend on the most unlikely allies: her middle-aged English teacher who’s more than he seems, the secretly sensitive school rebel, and her less-than-charming ex.

To escape the mythical lands she once longed for, Fran must face the truth she’s spent years avoiding: real courage isn’t found in books.

It’s found in her.

Carrie Anne Noble delivers a heartfelt, imaginative YA fantasy full of 1980s nostalgia, magical twists, and the bittersweetness of finding your courage. Trowbridge and Fye is a charming, clever adventure perfect for anyone who ever wished their favorite fairy tales could come to life.

Meet The Author:

Carrie Anne Noble writes fantasy infused with folklore and fairy tales for teens and adults. Her debut novel, The Mermaid’s Sister, won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Young Adult Fiction, as well as the Realm Award for Book of the Year. Her other titles include The Gold-Son (an Earphones Award winner), The Gingerbread Legacy duology, The Springborn (a Realm Award finalist), and more. Carrie lives in the glorious Pennsylvania mountains, where she enjoys wandering in the woods, frolicking with her half-Corgi, and drinking too many cups of tea. Find out more at carrieannenoble.com and @carrieannenoble7 on Instagram.