The North Star weaves together the different strands of several extraordinary Canadians and a handful of Confederate agents in Canada as they all make their separate, fateful journeys to the night of the assassination on April 14, 1865. They ended up crossing paths with Lincoln or his assassin John Wilkes Booth, as they were caught up in the maelstrom of history. The book shines a spotlight on the stories of such intrepid figures as Anderson Abbot, Canada’s first Black doctor, who joined the Union Army; Emma Edmonds, the New Brunswick woman who disguised herself as a man to enlist as a Union nurse; and Edward P. Doherty, the Quebec man who led the hunt to track down John Wilkes Booth. We also meet the wealthy men who aided and supported the Confederate side, such as Toronto aristocrat George Taylor Denison III and banker and Montreal mayor Henry Starnes.