The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran.✔✔✔✓

This is a novel about good people caught in impossible situations. The Oades family - Henry, his wife Margaret, their two children, John and Josephine - relocate from England to New Zealand in the late 19th century. They find a home out in the country, twins are born, and they are settling into the community when Margaret, their four children, plus a neighbour's boy, are suddenly and viciously kidnapped by Maori warriors while John is in town at work. John searches for them for a few years, then books passage to San Francisco, certain that he will never see his family again. While there, he marries a young widow with a young baby - more a marriage of convenience than anything since the young woman, Nancy, is penniless, Henry loves children and is able to protect them both. Meanwhile, some seven years later, Margaret and the children are released by the Maori after they become ill with smallpox. Margaret eventually is able to book passage to the USA, writes to Henry telling him of their escape and their upcoming journey to re-unite with him - a letter he gets after Margaret and the children have already arrived on his doorstep.

It isn't long before the haughty, righteous, pious women of the town find out that Henry has two wives, charges of bigamy are laid against Henry, Margaret, and Nancy , and a court battle ensues.

I couldn't put this book down. It's not very long, for one thing, but I found the story fascinating, as well as the legal issues.