The Wives of Henry Oades - Softcover

Moran, Johanna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007339275 ISBN 13: 9780007339273

Publisher: William Collins, 2011

Synopsis

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 newspaper account from the early 1900s.

About this title

Review:

'Irresistible...as comical as it is poignant.' Daily Mail

'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's opening chapters intrigue and mesmerize...In her evocative descriptions of sadness and relief, Moran successfully captures this family's particular tribulations.' Glasgow Herald

'A beguiling, promising debut. Serious, sometimes horrific developments are lightened by touches of understated, salty wit in Moran’s fact-based historical, a fresh and unusual story.' Kirkus Reviews

'Intriguing and evocative...It’s Margaret surviving the wilderness, Nancy overcoming grief and the two women bonding that give this book its heart and should make this a book group winner.' Publishers Weekly

'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 bestseller “The Wednesday Sisters”

'A stellar debut novel. A delicious and painful tale of marriage, suffering, tolerance and sacrifice – 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, bestselling author of “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet”

About the Author:

Johanna Moran lives in Florida with her husband, John. She has travelled extensively, working as a Pan Am stewardess, and has visited all the places mentioned in this book. She first came across this story through her father, a professor of law. The Wives of Henry Oades is her first book.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Collins
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0007339275
• ISBN 13: 9780007339273
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320