Description:

In 1899 Henry Oades discovers he has two wives – and many dilemmas… In 1890, Henry Oades decided to undertake the arduous sea voyage from England to New Zealand in order to further his family's fortunes. Here they settled on the lush but wild coast – although it wasn't long before disaster struck in the most unexpected of ways. A local Maori tribe, incensed at their treatment at the hands of the settlers, kidnapped Mrs Oades and her four children, and vanished into the rugged hills surrounding the town. Henry searched ceaselessly for his family, but two grief-stricken years later was forced to conclude that they must be dead. In despair he shipped out to San Francisco to start over, eventually falling in love with and marrying a young widow. In the meantime, Margaret Oades and her children were leading a miserable existence, enslaved to the local tribe. When they contracted smallpox they were cast out and, ill and footsore, made their way back to town, five years after they were presumed dead. Discovering that Henry was now half a world away, they were determined to rejoin him. So months later they arrived on his doorstep in America and Henry Oades discovered that he had two wives and many dilemmas … This is a darkly comic but moving historical fiction debut about love and family, based on a controversial court case from the early 1900s. ### From Publishers Weekly An English accountant and his two wives are the subject of this intriguing and evocative debut novel based on a real-life 19th-century California bigamy case. A loving husband and attentive father, Henry Oades assures his wife, Margaret, that his posting to New Zealand will be temporary and the family makes the difficult journey. But during a Maori uprising, Margaret and her four children are kidnapped and the Oades's house is torched. Convinced his family is dead, Henry relocates to California and marries Nancy, a sad 20-year-old pregnant widow. When Margaret and the children escape, eventually making their way to California and Henry's doorstep, he does the decent thing by being a husband to both wives and father to all their offspring, a situation deemed indecent by the Berkeley Daughters of Decency. Moran presents Henry's story as if making a case in court, facts methodically revealed with just enough detail for the reader to form an independent opinion. But it's Margaret surviving the wilderness, Nancy overcoming grief and the two women bonding that give the book its heart and should make this a book group winner. *(Mar.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### Review “A stellar debut novel . . . A historical saga seen through the lens of two wives, one husband, and the disapproving, cantankerous rabble at the end of Victorian America.”—Jamie Ford, author of **Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet** “Equal parts love story and courtroom drama, Johanna Moran’s The Wives of Henry Oades is a compelling story of good people caught in impossible circumstances, and a community that rushes to judge rather than to understand.”—Meg Waite Clayton, author of **The Wednesday Sisters **  “A beguiling, promising debut.”—*Kirkus Reviews *“Intriguing and evocative . . . [It’s] the two women bonding that give this book its heart and should make this a book group winner.”—*Publishers Weekly *“Johanna Moran’s fine first novel is a fascinating story….Moran is a careful writer, a spare stylist who never wastes a word. She also has a well-tuned ear for the jargon of the period, colorful language that adds warmth, humor, and humanity to her story.”—*Boston Globe *  “Moran focuses her satisfying, briskly paced novel on Henry’s two wives. Their experiences and attitudes are very different, yet their love for their children and their shared husband brings them to an unusual and courageous alliance.”—*St. Petersburg Times *  “Told mainly from the wives' perspectives, the story hinges on readers' empathy with their unusual predicament….Moran's debut…will intrigue historical fiction fans and provide plenty of discussion points for book clubs.”—*Library Journal* “Takes the bare outline of the legal case against Henry Oades and spins it into a heartbreaking story of the two women who love him.”—*Herald-Tribune,* Sarasota “Moran’s d...