13 year old Tom Drabble has a lot to be unhappy about: a stepfather who hates him; a mother pregnant with twins and a new school where no one wants to be his friend. When Mum is taken into hospital, Tom is forced to stay with his aunt in Yorkshire. Could things get any worse? After a rocky start, Tom becomes involved with a campaign to save the school where his aunt teaches from closure by a quarry company threatening to destroy the hill on which it's built. Aretha, a spirit child with a mysterious connection to Tom, helps him to understand the true causes of his unhappiness. With the support of Aretha and new girlfriend Bryony, a local farmer's daughter, he begins to turn his life around. Through learning to face his demons instead of running away, Tom POD-Distribution & Short Runscovers who and what matters to him most. (Aretha's Hill was Long-listed in the Times/Chicken House Competition 2007 to find the next J.K. Rowling).