Takedown

Available now!

From the jacket…

Sixteen-year-old star wrestler Rowan Harper’s biggest fan is her father.

But he has ALS, and his symptoms are getting worse. Saving his life will cost more money than the family has, but Rowan finds a solution. Will she risk her chances at a scholarship by competing in a lucrative, but illegal, underground MMA fight?

Takedown is a high-intensity coming-of-age story about family illness and competitive combat, with lots of heart, hope, and headlocks.

Released May 11, 2024
5.25 x 8 paperback
301 pages
ISBN 9781770867406
$16.95 CDN/US

Available in print and mobile formats:

Please consider purchasing from your local independent bookstore.

AMAZON

INDIGO

The Hill

Available now!

From the jacket…

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.

Available in print and mobile formats:

Please consider purchasing from your local independent bookstore.

AMAZON

INDIGO

Praise for The Hill

“A dystopian adventure brimming with gutsy action sequences…provoking gender dynamics drive the charged plot.”
– Publishers Weekly

“Bryan’s first novel for young adults, from feminist imprint Dottir, hits all the right apocalyptic notes. A great pick for forward-thinking feminist teens.”
– Stacey Comfort, ALA Booklist

“Lyrical writing and deep worldbuilding make for an immersive reading experience.”
– Kirkus

“Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games are obvious comparisons. So is Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which many consider ground zero for feminist dystopian narratives. As with those books, Bryan creates a fascinating social structure for The Hill, which is a first in what will be a trilogy.”

– Eric Volmers, The Calgary Herald

“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.”

– Gerard Collins, Atlantic Books

“The Hill by Ali Bryan is a quirky, positive but unsentimental book. It has all the classic adventure elements but reworks them in an interesting way. It is immensely readable, both moving and fun…highly recommend.”

– Prize Reviewer, 2021 Wilbur Smith Prize for Adventure Writing