She moved late in life to Keswick, Cumbria, where she lived with Vicki. In private life, Hill took an interest in animal rights that led to conflict with neighbouring farmers. Translations of some titles into several other languages appeared, including less usual ones such as Finnish (by Pirkko Biström, 1991), Indonesian (1994), Czech (1995) and Slovenian (by Bernarda Petelinšek, 1996). She is said to have been firm with publishers and to have earned more from her books than many of her contemporaries. Hill was then obliged to stop writing by ill health. She eventually wrote a total of 40 children's books, as well as La Sylphide, a commissioned biography of the dancer Marie Taglioni and two romances for adults, published in 1978. When Vicki left home to be a ballet student at Sadler's Wells in London, Hill missed her and began to write her Dream of Sadler's Wells series. They were followed by the Patience series and several others. These began to be published in London in 1948.

The result was a series of eight books about Marjorie & Co, illustrated by author. Hill's career as an author began when her daughter Vicki (Shirley Victorine), aged about ten, found a story her mother had written as a child and asked for more about its characters. They were married in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1928 and in 1931 moved to the remote parish of Matfen, Northumberland, where she played the church organ and ran a Sunday school. She gained a BA in English literature in 1926, at Durham University, where met her husband, Victor Hill, an Anglican clergyman. Leatham and his wife Edit (née Rutter), attended Durham High School for Girls and then Le Manoir, a finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland. These remained popular into the 21st century.

Lorna Hill (born Lorna Leatham, 21 February 1902 in Durham, England, died 17 August 1991 in Keswick, Cumbria), was an English author of over 40 books for children.

A Dream of Sadler's Wells by Lorna Hill