The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran

Reluctantly in Margaret's case, excitedly in Henry's, they and their two children embark on this journey. Henry has been promoted to a senior position in New Zealand. Starting in London in 1890 we meet Henry and Margaret Oades. It caught their attention and grew from there.

This fictional story come into being after the author's law professor father found an abstract on the Oades case. I mean I was invested enough in the plight of the characters, Margaret in particular, to be annoyed and frustrated on her behalf. I guess in a warped kind of way these feelings of frustration and confusion were a positive sign.

Certainly for the first half I simply tore through the pages at a great pace but towards the end I began to feel frustrated with how things were progressing and I really didn't know how I wanted it to end. I found it well done and for the most part I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. The Wives of Henry Oades was a debut historical fiction by Johanna Moran. 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. 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.

The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran