The Wives of Henry Oades is a first novel by Johanna Moran...and it is an amazing one. Based on an old legal abstract, that may or may not have been a hoax, the author tells a story of a man who, through no fault of his own, ends up with two wives...and two women who, through no fault of their own, end up married to the same man.
Henry and Margaret are a young couple living in England in the late 1880s with their two children and another on the way. Henry, presented with an opportunity to go to New Zealand for two years as an accountant, is eager to accept this promotion and honor; Margaret, good wife that she is, accompanies him...although she is reluctant to leave home.
After a grueling sea journey, they arrive in New Zealand and make a life for themselves. They are a loving family, obviously devoted to one another and to their children. In due course, Margaret and the children are kidnapped by the native Maori - Henry arrives home to find them gone, their home in ashes and an unidentifiable body in the rubble. While friends and townspeople are sure they are all dead, Henry refuses to give up, searching for them for months. He eventually comes to accept what everyone else seems to know and decides he can no longer stay in New Zealand. Not wanting to return to England without his family, Henry sets sail for California. He begins a quiet life there and finds a new career path, all the while still mourning his family. After a time he meets Nancy, a young widow with a newborn and no one to turn to; they marry and begin to build a life.
Six years after their abduction, having managed to escape the Maori and years in captivity, Margaret and the children arrive on Henry's doorstep. The worlds of Henry, Margaret, Nancy and the children are turned upside down. When the town learns that Henry Oades has two wives, they assume he is Mormon and ostracize the family as well as levying legal charges of adultery, cohabitation and bigamy. There are trials, traitors and tribulations that would confound King Solomon.
I can not recommend this book highly enough. I read it in two sittings, staying up until five am to finish and then was sorry to have to put it down. The characters are well-drawn, the writing is excellent, the story gripping, heart-breaking and thought-provoking. It can not leave you untouched.
