Sharon Johnston on Matrons and Madams
The wife of Canada's governor general has written her first novel.
Many of us enjoy delving into our family history. Maybe it's in our DNA to be curious about our ancestors. And in Sharon Johnston's case, investigating her family's past ended up inspiring her first novel. That novel is called Matrons and Madams and it's based on the life of Sharon Johnston's grandmother. She was a British war widow who came to Canada just after the First World War. She became the superintendent of a hospital in Lethbridge, Alberta, where she joined forces with the madam of a brothel, and together they established the first treatment clinic for venereal disease in Alberta. This interview was originally broadcast on October 26, 2015.