Men of Worth Book 2: Whatever happened to Andrew John Thomas?

"Whatever Happened to Andrew John Thomas?" is the second book in the "Men of Worth" historical family saga by Jo Squire. It is set in New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as the country is moving from its pioneer days into establishing its infrastructure and its own identity. The story explores the life journey of Andrew, who is the husband of Viola, (Horatio and Catriona's daughter, in Book 1). Despite being an intelligent educated man, he can never escape the trauma of his boyhood years, living with a drunken abusive father and he is beset by personal doubts and anxieties that undermine his work and his marriage. The eruption of Mt Tarwera, the establishment of new ideas and the temperance movement, the clamour for women's suffrage and the formation of unions and the labour movement, challenge Andrew's deep need for security, finally to be eclipsed by the country's disastrous involvement in World War 1 and the 1918 flu epidemic. Andrew feels inadequate to contribute to the patriotic war effort and the loss of a close friend casts him into a deep depression, so he seeks to escape his problems in the only way he knows. In spite of new innovations in psychiatric treatment at Seacliff under the famous Dr Truby King, and sympathetic understanding from his wife, Andrew can never undo the impact of his early years and eventually goes missing, never to be found. As he descends into despair, those around him grow in their strengths to cope and build new meaningful lives. The book theorizes on what may have happened to Andrew and uses news clippings and witness statements from a real probate hearing of a similar case of the era.