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At the end of WW1, wounded soldiers were returning to Canada in huge numbers, and the country was scrambling to find spaces to treat them all. In 1919, near Christie and Dupont streets in Toronto, a military hospital opened in a renovated cash register factory. Kristen’s book, The Roosting Box: Rebuilding the Body After the First World War, delves into the lives of this hospital’s patients and staff. Using old letters, diaries, military service records, and newspaper archives, she explores how ordinary people dealt with the ways war had changed them, and how the medical community – and the country – grew by leaps and bounds in this fascinating period.
Kristen den Hartog is a novelist and non-fiction writer whose latest book The Roosting Box was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award. She lives in Toronto and in Lyndhurst, Ontario.
This program is offered in a hybrid format – in-person at Hillary House National Historic Site and online via Zoom. The in-person program takes place in the Ballroom, located on the second floor of Hillary House which is only accessed via a staircase. Please contact us at community@aurorahs.com to inquiry about accommodations.