Toronto Life’s most popular memoirs of 2024
Including the story behind the city’s first Hakka restaurant, folks who left Toronto (and moved back again) and a doctor’s perspective on the health care crisis
This year, stories about Torontonians who left the city for distant (Italy) and not-so-distant (Grand Bend) locales—and some who came back again—captivated readers. Other popular first-person stories hit on of-the-moment issues like the international student cap, the health care crisis and Canada’s $10-a-day daycare program. Here, our 10 most popular memoirs of 2024.
No. 10 “I was born in a refugee camp in Nepal. When I opened a momo restaurant in Parkdale, it became part of the community”
Garab Serdok’s family fled Tibet in 1959 and sought asylum in Kathmandu. In 2005, he moved to Toronto, bought a restaurant and built a mini momo empire. | By Garab Serdok | September 30
No. 9 “This is our parents’ legacy”: How a family bond is keeping Toronto’s first Hakka restaurant alive
Husband and wife Michael Liu and Mei Wang opened Yueh Tung in 1986 and introduced the city to Hakka cuisine. After 38 years of ups, downs and delicious food, they’re passing the torch to their daughters. | By Caroline Aksich | June 25
No. 8 “I couldn’t put my energy into Toronto anymore”: Why the owner of Northwood closed his Christie Pits cocktail bar and opened one in Mexico
After skyrocketing rent killed Richard Pope’s cocktail bar in Christie Pits, he moved to Mexico and opened a tavern in Tulum. | By Richard Pope | January 2
No. 7 “We moved from Toronto to Italy to renovate a farmhouse from the 1700s”
Alper Ozdemir and Cynthia Liu bought a property in the Puglia region for $333,550. They’re spending another $1.2 million to fix it up. | By Alper Ozdemir and Cynthia Liu | February 12
No. 6 “My son’s daycare can’t afford to stay in the $10-a-day program. Now, we’ll have to pay an extra $800 a month”
Jacqueline Stein’s son attends Ola, a Roncesvalles daycare that’s ditching the subsidized program because it’s running them into debt. | By Jacqueline Stein | February 1
No. 5 My Psychotic Break: The postpartum nightmare no one talks about
After the birth of Patricia Tomasi’s first child, she split with reality. She had terrifying hallucinations, received messages from the spirit world and spent so much on New Age paraphernalia that she had to sell her house. A memoir on the postpartum nightmare no one talks about. | By Patricia Tomasi | March 26
No. 4 “Since the federal government capped international student enrolment, many of us haven’t felt welcome in Canada”
Akarshannoor Singh made sacrifices in order to live in Canada, including sharing a three-bedroom apartment with nine other students. Now, he’s considering leaving. | By Akarshannoor Singh | March 26
No. 3 “I left Toronto to live in a small town and missed it terribly. Now I’m back for good”
Kelly Barrett left Toronto during Covid to live in Grand Bend. The day she saw a dead deer hanging in her neighbour’s garage, she knew she’d made a terrible mistake. | By Kelly Barrett | March 26
No. 2 “We traded our semi on Danforth for 50 acres of enchanted forest. Now we have to move back”
Reeling from a concussion, Sarah Saso left Toronto in 2019 with her partner, Lonny Doherty, for Grey County, transforming a farm into what they thought would be their forever home. | By Sarah Saso | October 4
No. 1 “I’ve been a family doctor for more than 20 years. Now, I have no choice but to close my practice”
Rising costs, new administrative duties and subsequent burnout have made it impossible for physician Fan-Wah Mang to keep her Mississauga clinic open. Delivering the news to her patients—many of whom have nowhere else to go—broke her heart. | By Fan-Wah Mang | April 18
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