The Wives of Henry Oades: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle) - Softcover

"A stellar debut novel . . . 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, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

"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 Wednesday Sisters

"A beguiling, promising debut."--Kirkus Reviews

"Intriguing and evocative . . . [It's] the two women bonding that give this book its heart and should make this a book group winner."--Publishers Weekly

"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 focuses her satisfying, briskly paced novel on Henry's two wives. Their experiences and attitudes are very different, yet their love for their children and their shared husband brings them to an unusual and courageous alliance."--St. Petersburg Times

"Told mainly from the wives' perspectives, the story hinges on readers' empathy with their unusual predicament....Moran's debut...will intrigue historical fiction fans and provide plenty of discussion points for book clubs."--Library Journal

"Takes the bare outline of the legal case against Henry Oades and spins it into a heartbreaking story of the two women who love him."--Herald-Tribune, Sarasota

"Moran's debut is simply wonderful. She is firmly at home writing suspense-filled scenes, whether they take place among Maori captives or in a California courthouse. She also writes convincingly about the close friendships between women. The bond between women forms the core of this novel--a page-turner that readers will mourn finishing."--Romantic Times, Top Pick!

A family epic based on a true story follows the experiences of Henry Oades, who in the late 19th century loses his family to Maori kidnappers and remarries in California only to learn of his original family's escape, a situation that compels him to live in bigamy. A first novel. Original.