This was my first Bryce Courtenay book and if the others are anything like this it will not be my last. The amount of research that must have went into this story is amazing. The story follows the journey of one Ikey Solomon. Ikey's journey starts in England and eventually ends in Tasmania. Along the way we meet many loveable character and some we love to hate mainly Ikey's wife Hannah. Mary Abacus as she is come to be know, due to her use of the abacus is a stand out character throughout the entire story. It is Mary's idea to make beer that we get the name The Potato Factory from.

Another supremely entertaining story by Bryce Courtenay. I read the paperback version as well as listened to the audio book. Humphrey Bower is such a great narrator who brings all of Courtenay's colorful characters to life! This is the first book in a trilogy, chronicling the fictionalized life of Ikey Solomon, set in London and Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania). I'm already on to book 2: Tommo and Hawk and am enjoying this 2nd book
Immensely too.

Could I read it again? Maybe. Liked Courtenay's presentation of the then world ... but the books began to out-page me ... the pace as the series continued plod, packing too many pages. Tired of living in Courtenay's created world.
Still, a solid four-star the first time.

It took me a few months to get through this audiobook and every now and again I had to stop listening because it was just too much: the violence, the poverty, the lack of compassion. Yet I would always pick it up again, keen to find out what happens next, because throughout the story there is a glimmer of hope in its characters' grit, their will to survive and find peace, however short lived. Bryce Courtenay is an impressive storyteller who is sometimes ruthless to his readers while describing the realities of life in the poverty-stricken London and Van Diemen's land (Tasmania). He is far from subtle but he also makes it impossible to stay cold and disinterested in the fate of his characters.

A fun book that was clearly meticulously researched even if the details are not “true”. Superb characters on believable journeys- both literal and figurative. The only downside was the ending - predictable, corny, and too convenient. At least there was a feeling of closure for the stories. Would have preferred a cliffhanger though! Glad there are sequels… looking forward to reading them and hoping they are as good.

I now realize that I have just begun a 2000-page-plus trilogy! I don't mind big fat books but I know Courtney's characters suffer big time. It turned out to be a real page turner so I read it in a matter of days. Courtenay's Dickensian style is much in evidence in this tome. His florid descriptions of life in the cesspool that was early nineteenth century London almost go over the top but not quite. The novel is based on an actual person of the time named Isaac (Ikey) Solomon, a notorious English criminal. Apparently Charles Dickens is thought to have based his Fagin in Oliver Twist on this same man. Courtenay introduces several other characters who probably did not actually exist and, at times, his story takes a bit of John Irving absurdity but it appears the basics of the story are true. Solomon and his family are eventually transported to the penal colony on what is now Tasmania, hence Courtenay's interest in their story. The author was born in South Africa but has based much of his prolific fiction in his adopted country of Australia. This is a darned good read but I think I'll take a break between instalments. His characters go through Oprah-novel tribulations and a little bit of that goes a long way. Recommended for epic lovers.

I'm very close to giving this book 5 stars, but at the moment I'll keep it at 4.

I absolutely loved reading The Potato Factory. It featured all my favourite elements of a story: resilience of the human spirit; ruthless characters trying to destroy each other; and redemption.

The epic tale spanned decades and continents and focussed largely on 3 characters: Ikey Soloman (a seller of stolen goods), his wife Hannah (who hates him), and Mary Abacus (the woman in charge of his whore house). The suffering and misery these characters endured was overwhelming, but it all came about because of the mistrust they had for each other. Mary's story was particularly heartbreaking; she had a gift for numbers and would have lived an entirely different life had it not been for the spiteful lie told by one woman.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is in the mood for a long read.

A brutal glimpse of London and the British penal colony in Tasmania told through the story of the notorious Ikey Solomon during the first half of the 1800's. Fascinating but brutally dark at times. I'd recommend it but be prepared for a depressing ride.

I really did enjoy this book for the most part. During some of it I felt like it did drag on a little but I guess all that detail added to the realness of the story and the building of the characters.

I could not believe how much character development there was in this book. It virtually ran over a period of almost 20 years and it was kind of exciting to see where the main characters ended up after all that time. You almost felt like you were part of the lives of Ikey and Mary by the end after experiencing every aspect of their trials and tribulations over the years and how their personalities changed.

The language used in this book is unbelievably descriptive and it made you almost feel as if you could smell and taste what was being described in the story. I kind of felt dirty sometimes after reading sections of this book because the language really made me feel like I could totally imagine the slum conditions they were living in. It truly amazes and disgusts me that this was how people were treated and managed to lived back then. The dirtiness and diseases that were commonplace really makes you appreciate how times have changed in our society.

I've never actually read any other books that tell the story of how Australia was settled and how the convicts were brought here and subsequently treated once they arrived. Reading about this was very thought provoking and made me realise just how lucky we are that we don't have to fight for our lives in our country like that anymore. The differences between classes and how men treated women was horrendous and it makes you really sad to think that human beings were once so savage and had such little regard for their fellow man.

One dislike I did have regarding this book was some of the language used when the characters were speaking. Most of it was abbreviated into trying to replicate the real old cockney English and sometimes that made it a bit difficult when there were long conversations going on and you had to follow the broken words. But that is obviously not something that would bother everyone.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading a fictional account of how our society started as it was apparently based loosely on real people and events.

Overall I would give this book 4 stars our of 5 as it definitely held my interest right to the end and I always felt disappointed whenever I had to put it down and knew I wasn't going to get to read it again for a while.

I started listening to this book about three weeks ago. It’s a mammoth of a book and if I was reading it I probably wouldn’t have rated it so high. But the absolutely incredible Humphrey Bower narrates this and it felt like I was listening to a movie. He also narrates Shantaram, another enormous book that I may not have finished if it weren’t for his stellar narration and his ability for accents. I’m still thinking about that story.
Thankfully there are two more books in the Potato Factory trilogy that Mr Bower narrates and I can’t wait to listen to them.

Really enjoyed this. Very reminiscent of Dickens (in fact, Dickens himself makes a very brief appearance, as does the Artful Dodger), and thoroughly entertaining.
Will have to look out for the rest of the series.

Note on the audio: The narrator is excellent!

Big, brash and epic, The Potato Factory takes us back to early 19th century London and to the early years of England’s penal settlement in Tasmania, “Van Diemen’s Land”. This is the London of Charles Dickens, gritty with poverty, violence, brutality and crime, much of which we come to see, gets exported to Australia.

The Potato Factory is Courtenays’ fictionalized history of Ikey Solomon, his wife Hannah and his erstwhile mistress and business partner, Mary. Ikey is a London Jew, a master “fence”, crafty, despicable and the likely inspiration for Dicken’s Fagin in Oliver Twist. Ikey’s schemes and machinations eventually catch up with him, and he, and separately Hannah and Mary, get “transported” to Van Diemen’s Land.

This story, whether completely true or not, is a powerful tale of social injustice and greed and of our ability to overcome this. It is also a lush and vivid portrait of this time in English and Australian history, lovingly researched and clearly Courtenay’s homage to the grit and determination that characterized the European settlement of Down Under. The characters are all richly textured and memorable, truly Dickensian, and the story line, with its’ plot twists and intrigues, is an emotional roller-coaster of a ride. The Potato Factory is story-telling at its best.

And I cannot finish without giving another strong plug for the audiobook, narrated by Humphrey Bower. His voicings and narration bring a life to this story that is truly amazing. The Potato Factory is 4-½ star book, that I will easily round up to 5, and the performance by Mr. Bower, 5+ stars.