Solace Ã
Expand
Photo: âMud and barbed wire through which the Canadians advanced during the Battle of Passchendaele,â November 1917. William Rider-Rider / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-002165
Iâm writing a non-fiction book set in a World War I military hospital in Toronto, so I spend a lot of time in the past. An influx of wounded led to the hasty creation of the hospital in a cash register factory on Christie Street, in the west end of the city. The original building no longer stands, and the site is home to a sprawling seniorsâ residence with a plaque that commemorates the hospital. I sometimes walk there and wander around, trying to imagine the site as it was, with veterans soaking up the sun, nurses in their long blue dresses and white veils, and now and then a train rolling by. Through service records, old newspaper accounts, letters and diaries, Iâm coming to know patients and staff in an intimat