The Wives of Henry Oades: Giveaway w/ Review

A compelling story based on actual events,The Wives of Henry Oadesby first-time author Joanna Moran held my attention from the very beginning. In 1890 Henry Oades is a young mid-level government employee in London who receives a chance for advancement by moving his family to New Zealand. Soon the family is settled on their own piece of land in the country, Margaret has made friends with a neighbor, and their family of two children has expanded to four.

One afternoon while Henry is at work, the unthinkable happens. Margaret and the children are captured by a band of Maori raiders seeking retribution for the arrest and execution of tribal members by the white government. Henry returns to find the family's animals shot, the house burned down, and the charred remains of a woman behind the house. Even with this evidence in front of him he spends the next two years searching for his family, hoping to at least find his children. When he is finally able to accept that they will never be found, Henry travels to California for a new start. Here he purchases a dairy farm and leads a very quiet life for several years, until the day a fire takes another person's spouse. Nancy is a pregnant young widow with no family in the world to help her. Henry, who pulled her from the fire, checks in on Nancy at the home of the local reverend where she has been staying. Pity for her situation, and lonely in his own, he proposes marriage. Nancy, barely eighteen years old, soon to have a baby to care for, quickly agrees to his proposal. A few months later, a knock on the door brings a bedraggled woman, a young man, and two girls to the Oades farm. It is Margaret and her three surviving children, who have traveled half way around the world in hopes of finding their husband and father. Of course Henry and Nancy being good decent people take them in, but the townspeople of Berkeley soon get wind that Henry is living with two women who call themselves "Mrs. Oades" and they won't put up with bigamy. A series of arrests and trials ensue, with the government attempting to decide who exactly is breaking the law, or if any laws are broken. Meanwhile the citizens are becoming more upset and start vandalizing the farm and refusing their business in local stores.

Told primarily through the narration of Margaret and Nancy, The Wives of Henry Oades is fascinating to read about each feeling she is the true Mrs. Oades, yet acknowledging the claims of the other. As the two women try to make their living situation work, and work together to keep the farm running with Henry in jail, they earn each others' respect and a strong bond is formed. A legal case that was reported on by all the major newspapers of its time and has made it into several law textbooks, the case of Henry Oades, according to Oades family descendants was actually a hoax devised to show a loophole in the law that would allow bigamy in California. Whether true or not, it is sweeping, adventurous historical fiction with real people facing strange dilemmas and dealing with them.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:
I'm very excited that Ballantine Books has given me a copy of The Wives of Henry Oades to share with one lucky reader. I will announce the random winner on Wednesday, March 10. Just leave a comment stating you'd like to win this book. For further entries you can become a Follower and Tweet about this giveaway. Just leave a separate comment for each entry. If you'd like to increase your chances of winning, many of the other blogs on this TLC book tour are also giving away a copy. You can find the list of all participating blogs at TLC Book Tours.

This review is being shared on Cym Lowell's Wednesday Book Review Party. Check it out and find some great books to read!
Official FTC Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review, other than the uncorrected Advance Reader Copy from Ballantine Books for this TLC Book Tour.