when I first started listening to this book, I didn't like it, but I kept listening. Ikey Solomon actually existed and was the model of Charles Dickens' Fagin. Bryce Courtenay writes in the English of Charles Dickens, and the book was read by a person with a wonderful sense of dialect.

The book and characters grew on me, and at the end, I didn't want the book to end. It was a wonderful friend through much travel and gardening.

The descriptions of the Hobart Penal Colony, the treatment of blacks and natives, the whaling ships, are all extremely colorful. I have never read anything about the female inmates who were sent far away from England to such penal colonies. The author clearly did his research not only about Ikey Solomon but also concerning lives of inmates and freemen and women in these colonies.

My only complaint is that the ending is a bit too pat. All the themes and characters were tied up in a little bundle rather quickly. And one got the sense that those who lived would live happily ever after. A veritable fairy tale.

Well worth the read. Bryce Courtenay is a wonderful storyteller. I loved the character Mary Abacus. Looking forward to continuing the Australian Trilogy.

This book was physically difficult to read with over 600 pages of single line spaced small font. Really interesting story but did get bogged down at times.

4.5

The Power of One's author Bryce Courtenay's epic trilogy book 1, The Potato Factory. I didn't give it a 5 or round up from a 4.5 because there were areas elevated to unbelievability. However, it’s amazing with characters that are alive, and details and atmosphere you would expect in an epic. . Throughout the book I kept thinking, this is like an edgy Dickens novel. And I laughed when there was a tiny part in which Dickens surfaces as a reporter. I would highly recommend it. I won't go on to book 2 at this time because, although I spend a mere pittance of time with the characters in comparison to the authors, I've heard more than one author say they become saturated with the characters and need a break, and so do I.

Ikey Solomon is a rogue and a scoundrel but being born into the life he was he had to be like this to survive. At the beginning of this book there is a narration on the fact that Ikey is not a likeable character but I did quite like him. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Fagan from Oliver Twist, (a story I read uncountable times as a young girl and loved) but he is a better person as Fagan treated his boys very harshly. There is a cameo appearance by a young reporter called Charles Dickens, who meets the really likeable character of Sparrowfart, a young lad who knows a lot about Ikey and his life. Bryce Courtney spends years researching his books and the story of the Solomon family from the slums of London to the hell of Van Diemans land documents the horrors of life in the times. I listened to this on audible and at more than 23 hours long needs to be good. The narrator is the brilliant Humphrey Bower.

Excellent

This book was a nice surprise. It popped up as a personal suggestion based on my past purchases from a bookseller website. The author wrote this historical novel almost 20 years ago as part one of a trilogy, and covered a time and place I had not previously come across, I.e. the settlement of the Australian continent. The story begins in Dickens-era London, and then moves to the island today known as Tasmania, after the main characters get “transported” to the British penal colony following court convictions. Charles Dickens makes a cameo appearance as a reporter covering the trial in London, interviewing a street urchin who tells him his name is Artful Dodger. I enjoyed reading this book very much, and found myself really caring for the story’s characters, including some unsavory ones who battled their flaws and demons throughout. I can’t wait to start on part two of the trilogy.

This is Historical Fiction and I've had this in my audio library for quite some time. I'll first say that the narration was wonderfully done. When that happens, it adds to the enjoyment.

I liked this. I liked that it fully covered the same characters for decades. I felt like I really got to know them. Even when they weren't particularly likable, I felt I understood them and their actions. I liked the way the the author took opportunities to torture his characters. They really were so tortured, but yet he'd balance it out with hope or triumph. That ebbed and flowed seamlessly throughout the story.

This was a solid 4 stars for me. At times it was heavy on the narrative, which isn't a plus in my book, but it worked here. I noticed it; it just wasn't irksome. I also wanted more info because I had questions that went unanswered. (Especially with the relationship details between Mary and Ikey. Some of that was too vague.) Overall, I still enjoyed this, so 4 stars.

My Goodreads friend from Australia recommended this author to me when I told her I was looking for something by a writer from her country. Another reviewer raved about the audio version narrated by Humphrey Bower,one of those talented actors who makes characters come alive through the different voices and accents he gives them. A good thing too because this novel, the first in a trilogy, is filled with colorful characters which made it a lot of fun to listen to them speak, rather than simply read what they were saying.

The book is set in the 19th century and moves back and forth between the grimy streets of London and the disreputable people who lived there, and the British outpost at Van Dieman’s Land, Australia where criminals were sent in prison ships as a punishment for what were often for very trivial offenses. While the historical details were fascinating, including the fact that the central character really existed (and was the inspiration for Fagan in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist) I wasn’t as excited about the plot, which often verged on melodrama. There were plenty of villains to boo and hiss at, as well as a poor hapless heroine to sigh over because of her many misfortunes. In fact the plot included far too many horribly brutal things that were being done to her, and each of them was described a bit too graphically for my taste.

A further drawback was the novel’s pacing which was uneven and a bit tedious in places. To make matters worse, the ending was so contrived that it was hard not to regret having made it that far! Nevertheless for all its many flaws, I enjoyed listening to this novel. It was fascinating to learn a little about Australia’s history including the similarity between what happened to the Australian Aborigines and the American Indians.

Aside from the fact that most all of the characters tended to be a bit too unrealistic, they were nevertheless quite colorful, and with names like Tiberius Pockbottom and Sparrowfart, they would have been quite at home in one of Charles Dickens’ novels, especially since Courtenay’s was set around the same time. (And in fact both Charles Dickens and the Artful Dodger make cameo appearances.) But when all is said in done I have a feeling I wouldn’t have stuck with this book had I been reading rather than listening. It’s quite lengthy – and translated out to over 24 hours of listening so I’m sure it would have been even longer to read. So I doubt very much whether I’ll go back and pick up the next two books in the trilogy. This one was good -- but not that good!

Because of my passing interest in the antipodes, after I read its description I thought maybe this book would give me some insight into life in Australia during the country's early years, specifically the first half of the nineteenth century.
Unfortunately, I never got to the part where the main characters actually moved to Australia from England. They were so crass and disgusting, it became impossible for me to continue reading about them and their dissolute antics. So I gave it up, after about 100 pages. Time is too precious to waste it on despicable lowlifes.

I remember vaguely of loving the mini series adaptation of The Potato Factory that I thought I must read the book. However, one particular scene traumatised me so much, Mary’s hands being crushed, that it’s taken me forever and a day to pick this up and I still skip that scene in the book! I couldn’t handle it… I found that aside from that scene, I don’t actually remember anything else from the mini series so I don’t know whether that was a good sign or not but at least, I didn’t get bored as I wasn’t sure what’s coming next.

Bryce Courtenay is a master storyteller as he weaved a fictional story of a true historical personage, The Prince of Fence, Isaac “Ikey” Solomon. The main character in this book, however, is Mary Abacus, purported (fictionally) to be Ikey’s mistress. Whilst Ikey’s history or what is known of it anyway is followed rather correctly, there were many twists that the author can weave around this infamous convict including a ‘treasure chest’, twins of different colouring, etc. It sounds fantastical but the reality of life and how tough it was for the poor and the convicts were there. The Potato Factory is a story of life; of loyalty and betrayals, kindness and violence, but in the end, intelligence will win the day.

Ugh. Way too much waffle, and I don’t like his portrayal of women.