The Hill

by Ali Bryan

Overview

In the near future, a group of girls survive by their own wits and follow the laws of the Manual on the Hill, a reclaimed garbage dump they call home. The cardinal rule? Men and boys spell danger.

After a Departure Ceremony releases the eleven oldest girls back to the Mainland, Wren becomes their new leader, and she's desperate to do a good job.So when one of the girls goes missing only a few hours into her new position, Wren makes the fateful decision to leave the Hill in search of the girl—only to encounter boys for the first time in her life. Is it a coincidence, then, that the Hill is attacked while she's gone?

In order to survive and lead her community, Wren must sort fact from fiction, ally from enemy, and opportunity from threat. The Hill is a feminist dystopian novel that explores gender, power, and the search for truth in a world defined by scarcity, distrust, and gender politics. Gritty and compassionate, Bryan's unforgettable novel shines a light on the consequences of consumerism and environmental neglect while reminding us what it takes to be a girl in this world.

Hits all the right apocalyptic notes. A great pick for forward-thinking feminist teens. —BOOKLIST

Lyrical writing and deep worldbuilding make for an immersive reading experience. —KIRKUS REVIEWS

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948340328
Publisher:	DOTTIR PR
Publication date:	03/02/2021
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	11 - 18 Years

About the Author

ALI BRYAN's first novel, Roost, won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and was the official selection of One Book Nova Scotia 2014. Her second novel, The Figgs, was released in May 2018. Her nonfiction has been shortlisted for the Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Prize and longlisted for the CBC Creative Non-Fiction Prize. She is a 2018 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Emerging Artist recipient. She lives with her family in Calgary, Alberta, where she divides her time between writing and mastering the flying armbar. Her thirteen-year-old daughter is a competitive wrestler and inspired the fight sequences in The Hill.

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2021

For 67 years, the female-led Colony has sent infant girls to the Hill, an island landfill off the Mainland, for survival training. Developing skills using the Manual—instructions meant to warn against the dangers of males as well as prepare the girls for life on the unruly Mainland when they turn 15—Hill denizens are given assignments as hunters, collectors, foragers, suppliers, or mothers. When 14-year-old Wren is made leader as Head Girl, she learns of strangers on the island, and with best friend Quinn, heads into a Manual-forbidden forest to search for a missing girl. But when the forest reveals others living on the island, Wren and Quinn discover that the Manual holds as many lies as truths. Facing an attack by Mainlanders and destruction of their beloved Hill, Quinn and Wren fight to keep the girls safe while confronting doubts about the Colony and Quinn’s jealousy over Wren’s new love interest. Bryan (The Figgs, for adults) fashions a dystopian adventure brimming with gutsy action sequences. While the worldbuilding can feel slim, featuring little character or situational development (the girls know the properties of most plants but do not seem to understand procreation), thought-provoking gender dynamics drive the charged plot. Ages 11–up. Agent: Stacey Kondla, the Rights Factory. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

The Hill is a quick and entertaining read, bursting with subtext for the times in which we live and warnings for where we might be headed: evermore toward a separation of genders and ideologies, cultural amnesia, fear of the other, and a reckoning for living an unnatural, narrow and obedient existence. —ATLANTIC BOOKS

Hits all the right apocalyptic notes. A great pick for forward-thinking feminist teens. —BOOKLIST

Lyrical writing and deep worldbuilding make for an immersive reading experience. —KIRKUS REVIEWS

From the Publisher

02/01/2021

Gr 7–10—Guided by a manual that teaches survival skills and paints boys as the enemy, the girls on an island are given assignments including hunters, suppliers, collectors, mothers, and smalls. These assignments are to prepare them for their departure at age 15 to the colony, a safe space on the Mainland, which is overcrowded and has been ruined by careless humans who have destroyed the environment. After a departure ceremony that sends all of the 15-year-olds to the Mainland, the oldest remaining young woman on the island, Wren, becomes Head Girl. As a collector, Wren scours the reclaimed garbage dump the hill is on for relics that can be repurposed for this band of survivors. When one of the girls goes missing, Wren and her friend Quinn trek through a forbidden area, where they come in contact with boys for the first time, and she begins to question the manual and what is really going on. Atmospheric and thought-provoking, this feminist dystopia features a diverse crew of survivors and a strong female protagonist who is smart and spirited. Chapter headers featuring excerpts from the manual are attention-grabbing and foreshadow the action. The gritty survival aspect of the island is sprinkled with just a pinch of romance. An intensifying pace keeps readers turning pages; as the girls prepare to take on the patriarchy, the conclusion is open-ended and alludes to a sequel. VERDICT An engaging read sure to appeal to fans of feminist dystopian novels, especially those with survival aspects, such as Rory Power's Wilder Girls.—Lisa Krok, Morley Lib., Cleveland, OH

School Library Journal

2020-12-22
An isolated group of girls is threatened when outsiders learn of their existence.

Wren lives on the Hill on an island off the Mainland. The Hill was created by the Colony, an organization that has existed in secret for 67 years, training girls in survival skills using the Manual. The oldest resident acts as Head Girl, and each must leave when she turns 15. With a fresh Departure Ceremony over, Wren becomes Head Girl. Almost immediately, one of the girls under her watch goes missing. After learning she may have been taken into one of the forbidden forests, Wren decides to go after her, disregarding the Manual’s warning that no girls can survive outside the Hill’s boundary. She brings Quinn, who is the Lead Hunter and her best friend. As they move deeper into the forest, they discover more than they anticipated: They aren’t alone on the island, and the Manual has been misleading them. Worse still, the Hill has been ambushed in their absence—and Wren’s willing to give her life for her home. Lyrical writing and deep worldbuilding make for an immersive reading experience. A later shift toward constant action dampens the intrigue as character development falls off, but readers will be drawn back in by the promise of a sequel unraveling more secrets of the Colony. Wren is assumed to be White, and Quinn is Black.

A captivating start with uneven follow-through. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews