The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran

The Wives of Henry Oades
by Johanna Moran
Pub. Date: February 2010
Genre: Fiction
384pp

Synopsis from BN.com:
When Henry Oades accepts an accountancy post in New Zealand, his wife, Margaret, and their children follow him to exotic Wellington. But while Henry is an adventurer, Margaret is not. 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.

For months, Henry scours the surrounding wilderness, until all hope is lost and his wife and children are presumed dead. Grief-stricken, he books passage to California. 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.

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. 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.

Why I Picked It:
I was doing one of my daily blog catch up sessions, and someone (wish I could remember who) was reviewing this book. The story sounded really interesting, and then last week, while browsing those book tables at Costco that I can't seem to avoid, I saw it. For some reason, yesterday I picked it up even though I'm supposed to be reading the Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and I couldn't put it down. Imagine me cooking with book in hand, watching Winnie the Pooh with Laura book in hand... Yeah, it was that bad.

My Review:
It's a page turner. Not because it's action-packed (even though very much happens in a short period of time), but because there are a wealth of characters that come straight off the page. There is no trouble keeping track of them because you are intimately acquainted with them right away. From just reading the back cover (or the synopsis I included above), you know there is a lot to come, and for me, along with the steady cadence (and I'm really big on cadence), I really couldn't put it down.

The book opens with the narrative voice of Henry's first wife Margaret. Meg is sweet, witty, and both in love and quite tolerant of her husband. Henry is a very sympathetic character; I felt for him at once. After Meg and the children are abducted, their house burned down, Henry's narration begins, and you are thrust into his frantic, persistent hunt for his family, and eventual acceptance that they are indeed gone.

Henry books passage to anywhere the next ship is headed, and that brings him to Berkeley, California. He becomes owner of a dairy farm, a far cry from the accountant he once was, but he is now quite a rich man. He meets Nancy, recently widowed at a mere 20 years of age, with a brand new baby, and they marry. Am I just repeating the synopsis? I guess I'm still just so immersed in the story.... But I needn't retell it.

It's a very well-told story. Detailed without being dry. Rich with situations that you could easily sit and ponder how you would handle yourself in the same predicament. I couldn't put it down because I wanted to see how it would all turn out. Especially intriguing is the possibility that this is a somewhat true story. Once again, I find myself wishing for a book club to discuss it at length.

That's it. I need to stop moaning about not having one, and just create one! I'm off to post on a bulletin board and find one!