the north star:
canada and the civil war plots against lincoln
Coming in paperback in May 2023.
Available in hardcover on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com and Indigo
the amazon number #1 bestseller
(Civil War History)
an AUDIBLE BEST AUDIOBOOK OF 2023
”Powerful… thought-provoking.” -Literary Review of Canada
“Something of a thrill …. we get memorable details and rich characterization.”
- Montreal Review of Books
“A riveting and fascinating read”- Seattle Book Review
“A well-researched, detailed, and nuanced book… a cast of fascinating characters”
-San Diego Book Review
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A riveting account of the years, months and days leading up to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, revolving around the unexpected ways Canadians were deeply involved in every aspect of the American Civil War.
Canadians take pride in being on the “good side” of the American Civil War, serving as a haven for 30,000 escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. But dwelling in history's shadow is the much darker role Canada played in supporting the slave South and in fomenting the many plots against Lincoln.
The North Star weaves together the different strands of several Canadians and a handful of Confederate agents in Canada as they all make their separate, fateful journeys into history.
The book shines a spotlight on the stories of such intrepid figures as Anderson Abbott, 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 Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
At the same time, the Canadian political and business elite aided the slave states. Toronto aristocrat George Taylor Denison III bankrolled Confederate operations and opened his mansion to their agents. The Catholic Church helped one of Booth’s accused accomplices hide out for months in the Quebec countryside. A leading financier in Montreal let Confederates launder money through his bank.
Sher creates vivid portraits of places we thought we knew. Montreal was a sort of 19th-century Casablanca of the North: a hub for assassins, money-men, mercenaries and soldiers on the run. Toronto was a headquarters for Confederate plotters and gun-runners. The two largest hotels in the country became nests of Confederate spies.
Meticulously researched and richly illustrated, The North Star is a sweeping tale that makes long-ago events leap off the page with a relevance to today.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
“Julian Sher does what he always does: an amazing job of digging deep, in this case uncovering the Canadian origins of a 150-year-old story that still haunts this continent.” —Peter Mansbridge, broadcaster, author Off the Record
”Meticulously researched … Sher writes with the deft touch of a skilled storyteller.” - John Boyko, author, Blood and Daring
”The prose is elegant, the analysis concise, the narration masterful, and there are also delightful surprises along the way.”
— Afua Cooper, historian, author of The Hanging of Angélique and co-author of Black Matters