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. 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. Convinced his family is dead, Henry relocates to California and marries Nancy, a sad 20-year-old pregnant widow. But during a Maori uprising, Margaret and her four children are kidnapped and the Oades's house is torched. 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.
Exploring the intricacies of marriage, the construction of family, the changing world of the late 1800s, and the strength of two remarkable women, Johanna Moran turns this unusual family’s story into an unforgettable page-turning drama.Īn 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. Narrated primarily by the two wives, and based on a real-life legal case, The Wives of Henry Oades is the riveting story of what happens when Henry, Margaret, and Nancy face persecution for bigamy. There he marries Nancy Foreland, a young widow with a new baby, and it seems they’ve both found happiness in the midst of their mourning-until Henry’s first wife and children show up, alive and having finally escaped captivity. Grief-stricken, he books passage to California. Their new home is rougher and more rustic than they expected-and a single night of tragedy shatters the family when the native Maori stage an uprising, kidnapping Margaret and her children.įor months, Henry scours the surrounding wilderness, until all hope is lost and his wife and children are presumed dead. But while Henry is an adventurer, Margaret is not. When Henry Oades accepts an accountancy post in New Zealand, his wife, Margaret, and their children follow him to exotic Wellington.
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