Totem by Matthew Hall

Matthew Hall will talk about his new novel, Totem, a gripping tale of ruthless exploitation set in the rarely seen world of Canada’s First Nations people.

Totem
When Jessie Cunningham, a high-flying Toronto lawyer with a round-the-clock schedule, is deserted and betrayed by her jealous partner, she suffers a nervous collapse. To recuperate, she takes up an isolated charity assignment, mapping trees in the forest wilderness of British Columbia. As her guide to the rugged terrain, she engages Todd Samson, a taciturn First Nations man from the Three Valleys reserve, who is on the front line of the struggle to save his community from ruthless developers. Two people from vastly different worlds, the pair are slowly building a rapport when Todd is arrested and falsely accused of murder. Shocked by the police’s casual disregard for evidence, Jessie steps forward to assist a jaded local lawyer with Todd’s defence. But she is soon pitted against darker forces. Teaming up with the Chief of Three Valleys and a local shaman, she finds herself taking on greed and corruption in a race to save the reserve and its people from destruction and Todd from his own demons.

Matthew Hall is a Bafta-winning screenwriter and novelist who lives on the England/Wales border. He practised as a barrister before becoming a full-time writer. His TV series Wing and a Prayer was nominated for a Bafta and he won a Bafta Cymru for Keeping Faith. His debut novel The Coroner was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger in 2009, as was his fourth novel The Flight in 2012. Matthew has strong family connections to Canada, which he has regularly visited since 1983.

A joint event for Rossiter Books and The Friends of St Mary's Ross on Wye.

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