In case you've been held hostage in Sierra Leone or the Philippines lately and haven't seen the book, the cover photo shows the winsome Hill, looking ever so much like a long-haired version of Juliette Binoche, with her arms and bare feet wrapped about her beloved redwood. Hill's eyes turn away from us, toward some lofty, Utopian vision in the distance, and it's all one can do not to hurl.

But if you can get past the Hallmark-style bathos on the exterior of the book, the interior offers a truly thrilling adventure of a girl and her tree. Granted, there are plenty of saccharine moments when Hill, during her now famous two-year Earth First-initiated tree sit in Humboldt County, Calif., communes with nature or prays to the Universal Spirit to guard over her. Yet Hill, 26, really did put her life on the line from 1997 to 1999 in the course of her battle to save a 1,000-year-old redwood she named Luna from the Pacific Lumber Co., a division of the Maxxam Corp. And in the process, she kicked some corporate tail!

The good fight is the one you win. And Hill did indeed win. In 1999, Pacific Lumber rolled over and agreed to a deed of covenant to protect Luna and create a 20-foot buffer zone around the massive tree. Not bad for a young woman who left her home in Arkansas on a whim and ended up in California with the odd idea in her noggin that she could help save the redwoods.

More than saving Luna, she dramatically illustrated what was at stake in the extinction of old-growth forest. She helped in other ways too. Instead of the public's general perception of environmentalists as ragtag leftovers from a J.R.R. Tolkien novel, here was a young, well-spoken, courageous young woman with the looks to challenge the überbabes on the catwalk.

Hill's now at it 24/7 as a co-founder of the nonprofit, environmentalist Circle of Life Foundation -- doing interviews, promoting her book (the profits from which go back into Circle of Life), speaking to civic groups and rallying the faithful to the ramparts. Think of her as a 21st century Petra Kelly. The environmental movement may never again be the same. I caught up with Hill during a hectic day in which her publicist reported receiving some 400 e-mails. Yikes!

What's your life been like since you left Luna?

I knew I was coming down to a whirlwind; I didn't know I was coming back to a tornado. [Laughs.] The gale force has been more than I could possibly have imagined. I thought my life in the tree was intense. But there, because I was not as accessible to people, it was a little bit slower. Now, every day I'm bombarded with requests and trying to juggle it all. All the issues are so important, and trying to plug in what I feel is most effective with my time and energy is a challenge.

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