Hardback:

Published: Lightning (May 2026)

ISBN: 9781785634482

Totem

Matthew Hall

£16.99

Greed, corruption and the race to save an ancient homeland

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.

OUT MAY 2026. AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW

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ABOUT

Matthew Hall

Matthew Hall is a Bafta-winning screenwriter and novelist who lives on the England/Wales border.

He trained and practised as a barrister before becoming a full-time writer. His first original series Wing and a Prayer was nominated for a Bafta and he won a Bafta Cymru in 2018 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. His Jenny Cooper novels were recently adapted for television in Canada as the series Coroner and the first four seasons have aired on CBC.

He has strong family connections to both Ontario and Vancouver and has visited Canada regularly since 1983.

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