I "read" this as a download from Audible.com. Humphrey Bower is an exceptional narrator effortlessly giving each character their own distinct voice. I was enthralled with Courtenay's writing and Bower's narration. I don't know if I'd give it five stars as a print book or not, but I recommend it as an audible book to anyone.

Bryce Courtenay plagiarised two pages from the book Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: Convict Women in Van Diemen's Land, 1803-1829, written by a family friend. The textbook is rather large, nearly two thousand pages (I did not read all of it), and details the lives and histories of the female convicts of Tasmania.

Notorious Strumpets was not a popular book and was in fact incredibly niche, which is why Courtenay got away with it for so long. I noticed it myself when I was forced to read The Potato Factory for a University course. I spoke to the author, and he told me he recognised it himself when he was reading Courtney's fiction book many years later. They went to court but settled it out of court. The author now appears in the acknowledgements page, but you will note he did not appear in the first few printings of the book, as my class happily compared different versions of Courtenay's book.

What a book, hook, and cliffhanger!
During lockdown I had premium Audible and downloaded lots of books, for one reason or another, and I forget over the years what led me to purchase them.
I listened to tedious historical novels, trying to expand my reading set and be more eclectic.
I have avoided listening to the potato factory because of those ill experiences, and expecting it to be one of those, and decided that I’d “get it out of the way” because it’s been in my library so long, and I was 2 books ahead on my reading challenge.
I’m so glad I “got it out of the way”. It’s brilliant, I thoroughly enjoyed it and went straight to the second one!
There are no spoilers here and, unlike others, I do not feel the need to expand on the publishers blurb.
All I’ll say is that it’s Dickensian, and the narrator of the audible, Humphrey Bower, was exceptional my dears, unequivocally wonderful and stupendous Sir

This is the first volume of a trilogy.
Courtenay is the consumate story teller transporting you to early 1800's england and the underworld of pick pockets and theives, to the convict ships to Austrialia and the scramble to make a new life in a country with no past. It's a "can't put down" book!

Bryce Courtenay is fast becoming one of my favorite authors…..The Power of One was one of those life changing novels that we are most fortunate to read in our lifetimes.
The Potato Factory is just as good……ordered the next two in this trilogy, can’t wait to start the next one!

I picked up The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay, looked at it, flipped to the last page and groaned, a whopper of a book and one I’ve had on my shelf for many many years (possibly because of its size and it being the first volume in The Potato Factory Trilogy) so it was high time I moved it up to my TBR (coffee table) pile however, to peruse 800 pages plus seemed like a huge task at this time (so many challenges to complete), I grabbed my phone, checked the Borrowbox app and there it was, with a sigh of relief and a big smile on my face I tuned in and listened to what was the most epic, brutal and impressive story I’ve read/listened to in a while. It’s a remarkable book, but Humphrey Bower’s stunning narration was certainly part of what made it so enthralling.

The writing is very explicit, there were quite a few parts that were extremely savage which had me crying like a baby. It took Bryce Courtenay 20 years to write this novel so one can imagine the research that went into this book! The history in this novel was fascinating but the hardships the characters endured was frightening and just so bloody awful.

As far as I know Humphrey Bower has narrated 75 books - that’s beyond amazing and I’m determined to listen to most of them that’s how phenomenal Humphrey Bower is at narrating books.

*Book #65/72 of my 2019 coffee table to-read challenge, cont. 2020

Supposedly the story of the artful dodger from Oliver. About the life and loves of Ikey Solomon, a swindler. Several times during this book I questioned why I was still reading it as I didn't care for any of the characters. It did finally take an interesting spin at the end, with the story of a mother fighting for her 2 children. (Which gets wrapped up a little too neatly for my taste at the last second.) Also we finally get the answer to what becomes of the safe. Took way too long to get there in my opinion.

I listened to this book by audible. Humphrey Bowers was a wonderful narrator and I’m hooked on Bryce Courtenay. Fabulous author! Looking forward to the next book in this trilogy.

What an altogether roller coaster journey about London during the early and mid 18 hundreds. I knew that 'life' during those times was rather terrible for the lower class of the population, but how vividly 'poverty' is described - in a Charles Dickens style - leave little to the imagination of the reader. The Potato Factory was a very good read and again my admiration for Bryce's detail in describing human misery to its fullest. I never knew that Tasmania was a destination for convicts, I knew about Australia yes, but this story added a whole new meaning to human suffering and the triumph of the human spirit never to give up!

Rambunctious, lively, filthy, gruesome and utterly packed with life. This strange and very amusing story has been a wonderful second introduction for me into Bryce Courtenay's works and I would recommend it; for the blend of Dickensian London and colonialism, and for the way the bizarre fiction speaks of the truths of human nature.

Very enjoyable - I scarcely noticed the 800 pages go by.

Listened to on my IPod. Amazing Narration with Humphrey Bower doing many dialects with great skill. The story is about Fagan, the "villain" from Oliver, who is a real life character who Dickens used to tell the story of the young thieves. Much of the story takes place in Australia after his deportment for his crimes.

I got this book to see just what this author was about. I an one quarter Australian, and studied in Australia but the potato factory helped me to understand just how the convict culture worked back when the country was being formed. My relatives came after convicts stopped coming but they are part of who I am too.

The character of Ikie Solonon was really irritating at times, really evil at others, and downright amazing at others. I loved all of the developments Courtenay put into the story, especially the character of spirm whale Sally. Since writing this review, I have finished the Australia series. How couldn't I after finishing this one. I had to find out what would happen with this interesting family and I didn't have time to write a review. The narrator was very good and characterized everyone in unique ways with countless accents where they counted. I wouldn't read this series any other way.

I couldn't give this book five stars mostly because, though I know the time was full of grit, I thought at times the book went a bit overboard. If for you are easily offended, you may need to skip a passage or two. Overall, it was a good read and one I may do again. H