I hope you enjoy some of the locations in the story.
The Empress of Britain
It Starts Here
The Empress of Britain was the inspiration for the transatlantic ocean liner in The Nature of Forgiveness. Although this ship was out of service in 1930, its essence is behind the story's inciting incident.
“Two-hundred-fifty feet of water below: Canada to England 3,000 nautical miles of roiling ocean ahead. Quebec to Southampton, June 3, 1931.”
The Dominion Orthopedic Hospital, Toronto
Home for the Disabled
Text from the plaque outside of the original hospital:
“On this site stood the Christie Street Veterans' Hospital, originally the National Cash Register Company Factory. In 1919 the factory was converted to the Toronto Military Orthopaedic Hospital. Although most of the soldiers had been wounded in World War I (1914-1918), a few residents had been disabled in the Boer War (1899-1902) and the Fenian Raids of 1866. In 1936 the name was changed to the Christie Street Veterans' Hospital. The influx of wounded veterans during World War II (1939-1945) caused overcrowding in the already inadequate facility. This led to the construction, in 1948, of Sunnybrook Hospital.”
York Regional Forest
Agnes Street in Toronto’s Ward
The Ward
Toronto’s Ward does not factor significantly into the storyline, but it plays such a huge part in Toronto’s immigrant history, I have a couple of scenes that take place there.
Research for this area is credited to: The Ward, The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood, Edited by John Lorinc, Michael McClelland, Ellen Scheinberg, and Tatum Taylor
Sunnybrook Hospital
Deep Veterans’ History
As it is now known, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre has its history as a veteran’s hospital. It is located on spectacular grounds in the city of Toronto. This is the location where Ren and Jack reconnect.
“In the spring of 1919, Bertie Fisher’s return voyage took him directly back to Toronto to take up residence in the Dominion Orthopedic Hospital for prosthetic fittings and rehabilitation. But whatever inner horrors or nightmares that may have festered in the back of his mind, he carried on; that’s what honorable men did. As it turned out, he’d been shot by the enemy on his first day on the battlefield and less than two months later the war was over. He didn’t even get to join the rest of his regiment for their hero’s welcome in Ottawa.”
Inspiration for the house in Pine Orchard
A Quaker Hamlet
My depiction of the house in Pine Orchard is not meant to be a replica of the structure that has been my inspiration. This house, actually located in the hamlet of Vivian, is a couple of miles north of where I live. I drive by it frequently, and I’ve been fascinated by its story. Lacking an answer, I made one up!
Cooper Lake, inspiration for Hugh’s painting
The Queen Alexandra Sanitarium
TB in Canada
The Queen Alexandra Sanatarium is located in London, Ontario. When I was a university student at Western - located in the same city, we would drive by this site, and I always wondered what the story was with this structure.
The research for these scenes came from Veronica Eddy Brock’s book, The valley of flowers: A story of a T.B. sanitorium.
I spent one snowy day, pre-pandemic, reading the only copy at Toronto’s Research Library.
“The long graveled drive was lined by young maples that one day would give a dense overhang to the road. The main pavilion sat back on a ridge with the back veranda overlooking the river. The facility had expanded over the years and the central building was now surrounded by several long, flat outbuildings connected by wooden sidewalks that the wheelchairs rumbled over on their way to the lawns. Bed rest, fresh air, and nourishment of clean wholesome food were meant to be the remedy. But boredom could also kill you. Maybe boredom has to get in line behind infection. Fatigue and the effort of breathing made moving nearly impossible. But fear walked hand-in-hand with unrelieved monotony.”
WW1 Celebrations, Ottawa
“The house looked as if it belonged in a fairytale or a nightmare with four cathedral-style windows equally spaced across the second storey with two additional windows in gothic revival on its north side. All the windows and the top peak were trimmed in ornate edging, although the milky-blue paint was peeling from the wooden trim, abused by the Ontario winter and neglected by the owner. One of the shutters at the front of the house looked as if it was holding on by its last nail, and the next stiff northwest wind would detach it and blow it to kingdom come. Weather-beaten Muskoka chairs on the wraparound porch faced west, presumably for those in respite, to catch the afternoon sun.”