Set in a dark near-future where overconsumption and the climate crisis have come to a chaotic head, Ali Bryan’s young adult novel The Hill tells the story of Wren, the newly chosen leader of a secret clan of girls taught to survive by their own wits. Their home? A reclaimed garbage dump in the middle of the ocean called the Hill. Their bible? The Manual, which tells the girls everything they need to know about the world—or so they think. The gospel? Men and boys are dangerous. 

When Wren makes the fateful decision to leave the Hill in search of a missing girl, she encounters boys for the first time in her life. What’s worse, they’ve been living on the other side of the island this whole time. Is it a coincidence, then, that the Hill is attacked while she's gone?

As it turns out, they’re not the only ones under attack. Forced to question everything she’s ever been taught, Wren must sort fact from fiction, ally from enemy, and opportunity from threat in order to survive and lead the girls to safety—even if safety is an illusion.  

In a pulse-racing story, The Hill explores gender, power, and access to truth in a world defined by scarcity and distrust. The book outlines the consequences of consumerism and environmental neglect, while reminding us just what it takes to be a girl in this world.

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