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The Roosting Box: Rebuilding the Body after the First World War Paperback – Feb. 20 2024

by Kristen den Hartog (Author)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating
#1 Most Gifted in 20th Century Canadian History
See all formats and editions
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“A hospital ... is like a roosting box: a communal space that provides ideal but temporary shelter for [the] vulnerable.”

In the aftermath of the First World War, a cash register factory in the west end of Toronto was renovated to treat wounded soldiers returning from war. From 1919 to the 1940s, thousands of soldiers passed through its doors. Some spent the remainder of their lives there.

The Roosting Box is an exquisitely written history of the early years of the Christie Street Hospital and how war reshaped Canadian society. What sets it apart from other volumes is the detail about the ordinary people at the heart of the book: veterans learning to live with their injuries and a world irrevocably changed; nurses caring for patients while coming to terms with their own wartime trauma; and doctors pioneering research in prosthetics and plastic surgery or, in the case of Frederick Banting, in a treatment for diabetes.

Naming chapters after parts of the body, den Hartog chronicles injuries and treatments, and through the voices of men and women, the struggles and accomplishments of the patients and staff. The cast of characters is diverse — Black, female, Indigenous, and people with all sorts of physical and mental challenges — and their experiences, gleaned from diaries, letters, service records, genealogical research, and interviews with descendants, are surprising and illuminating.

An unusual mix of history and story, The Roosting Box offers deeply personal perspectives on healing in the aftermath of war.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    280 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Goose Lane Editions
  4. Publication date
    Feb. 20 2024
  5. Dimensions
    15.24 x 2.29 x 22.61 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1773103261
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1773103266
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

“A combination of in-depth research and beautiful writing, The Roosting Box makes a deeply moving and important contribution to our knowledge of the immediate aftermath of Canada’s role in the First World War. With unflinching intimacy and tenderness, Kristen den Hartog documents the lives of some of the thousands of permanently disabled young Canadians who returned after the conflict. Gripped by the pathos and courage of these lives, and by the empathy of the doctors and nurses who attended to them, my knowledge of my country — and my self — was changed.” -- Jane Urquhart, author of The Stone Carvers

“Kristen den Hartog has written a deeply moving story of what war can do to the body, and what the spirit can do along the road to recovery. Written with empathy and intimacy, The Roosting Box is a book full of tragedy that ultimately carries a profound message of hope.” -- Jonathan F. Vance, author of The True Story of the Great Escape: Stalag Luft III, March 1944

“Kristen den Hartog’s carefully researched, beautifully written, altogether fascinating account of Toronto’s Christie Street Hospital in the years during and following the First World War is an unblinking time machine. Her latest book compels us to look directly at the result of military action: wounds, burns, amputations, sickness, madness, shattered lives, death. This stunning book is the real history of a war. All war.” -- David Macfarlane, author of The Danger Tree

“A wonderful book. Kristen den Hartog has uncovered a little-known chapter of medical history that makes a major statement about the ills of war and the war against illness.” -- Howard Markel, author of Origin Story: The Trials of Charles Darwin

Review

“A combination of in-depth research and beautiful writing, The Roosting Box makes a deeply moving and important contribution to our knowledge of the immediate aftermath of Canada’s role in the First World War. With unflinching intimacy and tenderness, Kristen den Hartog documents the lives of some of the thousands of permanently disabled young Canadians who returned after the conflict. Gripped by the pathos and courage of these lives, and by the empathy of the doctors and nurses who attended to them, my knowledge of my country — and my self — was changed.”

“Kristen den Hartog has written a deeply moving story of what war can do to the body, and what the spirit can do along the road to recovery. Written with empathy and intimacy, The Roosting Box is a book full of tragedy that ultimately carries a profound message of hope.”

“Kristen den Hartog’s carefully researched, beautifully written, altogether fascinating account of Toronto’s Christie Street Hospital in the years during and following the First World War is an unblinking time machine. Her latest book compels us to look directly at the result of military action: wounds, burns, amputations, sickness, madness, shattered lives, death. This stunning book is the real history of a war. All war.”

“A wonderful book. Kristen den Hartog has uncovered a little-known chapter of medical history that makes a major statement about the ills of war and the war against illness.”

“A warning: once you pick up this book, you will likely annoy everyone around you by spouting fascinating facts out of context, like a bothersome robot, but pick it up anyway. In The Roosting Box, Kristen den Hartog has brought a piece of Toronto’s history to life, and the effect is pretty dazzling.”

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Goose Lane Editions (Feb. 20 2024)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1773103261
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1773103266
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 480 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.29 x 22.61 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating

About the author

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Kristen Den Hartog

Kristen Den Hartog

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Kristen den Hartog is a novelist and non-fiction writer. Originally from Deep River, Ontario, she lives with her family in Toronto.

Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
1 global rating

Top review from Canada

Marilyn C
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, wonderful
Reviewed in Canada on March 9, 2024
Totally fascinating, beautifully written book. At times I was very emotional while reading both the happy parts and the sad parts.
It's the story of the Christie Street hospital in Toronto and it's inhabitants - - patients, nurses, doctors, during and after WW1.
There is a fascinating description of how gas-producing bacteria invades the body causing the stages of gangrene that can lead to death within a few hours.
Frederick Banting did clinical research on his miraculous insulin at Christie Street.
An innovative treatment for tuberculosis resulted in the Roof Ward where patients basked in the sun. At times funny antics occurred along with the happy and sad with nurses Win, Connie and Helen and their patients Tom, Bob, Fish and Frenchie.
A sculptor created paper-thin copper masks, complete with delicate complexions and eyelashes to cover wounds that couldn't be surgically repaired.
The influenza epidemic crept around the world and into Christie Street infecting many of those who were hoping for a return to a peaceful world.
The chapters are named after parts of the body - Legs, Arms, Faces, Minds etc. and each one tells of the horrible wounds the war made on them.
Poets went to war too. Something I hadn't thought of before but their words are beautifully sprinkled throughout the text.
Stewart lost half his face. Tom succumbed to TB. The intrepid nurse Mae, who in later years became a farmer, lived to be 81.
A veteran said....You cannot go through four years of war and come out unscathed. You cannot read this book and not be moved.
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