Westford-based young adult author Marcella Pixley spoke to an audience of 38 people at the Annual Meeting of the Friends of the JV Fletcher Library on Thursday, November 2 in the library’s Meeting Room. Ms. Pixley revealed the inspiration behind her latest book, Trowbridge Road, and explained her hopes for the novel as it makes its way in the world.
Trowbridge Road is set in an upper-middle-class Boston suburb in 1983, and tells the story of June Bug Jordan, a tween who is dealing with her father’s recent death from AIDS and her mother’s mental illness. Pixley said the novel aims to illustrate that in neighborhoods where things seem tidy and perfect on the outside, people may be hiding the complications and difficulties taking place inside their homes in order to fit in.
The author shared her own struggles with OCD. As a child, she suffered from constant worrying thoughts about illness, death and dying. She never told anyone about her discomfort, and was not diagnosed until adulthood. She hopes Trowbridge Road and her other novels will inspire kids experiencing mental health challenges to advocate for themselves, to have the courage to say “I’m not all right. I need help.”
To cope with the endless spinning in her mind, Pixley turned to art. She found that playing the cello, singing, and performing in theater slowed her thoughts. Writing fell into this category as well. It allowed her to “attack and think about what worried her,” and use her imagination to “create a bridge out of her spiraling worries and turn them into something beautiful.”
These two aspects of her childhood – experiencing the symptoms of OCD and using imagination to escape – appear in Trowbridge Road. Ms. Pixley read two passages from her book that demonstrate this contrast. In the first passage, June Bug’s mother, Anglela, who has OCD, furiously scrubs the house from top to bottom using bleach, gloves and a brush, but is still concerned that she has not removed all the “disgustingness.” In the second passage, June and her friend Ziggy go to an abandoned plot of land, which they have named “Magestica,” and create their own fantasy world.
Pixley said writing her novels is a slow process. She writes one paragraph at a time, in order. The technique works for her, and she has no plans to change it. Her goal is not to create bestsellers, but to create “literary, quiet books that find the right readers.” She wants her stories to “find their way into the hands of people who need them.” And she has succeeded. She hears from young people who say her work has inspired them to be open about their struggles. She often tells kids that “the harder things are for them, the more the world needs to hear their stories.”
Author Marcella Pixley signs a copy of Trowbridge Road for one of the Annual Meeting attendees.
A Westford resident who lives with her husband and two sons, Pixley can sometimes be found writing in the quiet area on the top floor of the JV Fletcher library. She teaches eighth grade Language Arts in the Carlisle Public Schools.
Trowbridge Road was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and was longlisted for the 2020 National Book award and the Massachusetts Book Award. It was also named a best book of 2020 by Shelf Awareness, Reading Group Choices, and Mighty Girls, and was nominated for a Golden Dome Award.
Ms. Pixley’s previous young adult novels include Freak, Without Tess, and Ready To Fall. Her poetry has been published in literary journals, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her newest book, which has the working title Dancing With Ghosts, is her first novel in verse. It is forthcoming from Candlewick Press in 2025.