I really enjoyed the first two books of Courtenay's Australian Trilogy. In The Potato Factory and Tommo and Hawk the reader really got to know the main characters (Ikey, Mary, Tommo, Hawk) and had an understanding of each charcter's development. In this last book not only are Tommo and Mary dead, I feel like Hawk is lost in this book and replaced by Victoria and Ben, which I never really felt I got to know. These characters had bits and pieces of former characters, but with not as much depth and originality. The beginning of the book and the development of Ben and Victoria growing up is rushed and then the war is drawn out (although this is the part of the book I enjoyed the most.) Joshua would have been an interesting character to focus on more, but his part was lacking. The book seemed unbalanced to me and after reading a total of 1400 pages of this trilogy I was not sad to see the end. I just felt a lack of closure, especially with Hawk and the Potato Factory, which defined Mary as a strong female character.

Last in trilogy. Great series from Bryce Courtenay.

way way too long. I just could not sustain my interest

i cried on the train xx

A fantastic conclusion to this exciting saga. This is a long series, but not a word is wasted and i could not put it down. This is an author to follow and love. Rarely is a series as good as this one from beginning to end.

Solomon's Song is the third book in the Potato Factory trilogy by Bryce Courtenay.

It continues on directly from where Tommo & Hawk left off in the previous book. It starts in Sydney Town with Tommo hunting down Sparrer Fart for the death of his brother Hawk's beloved Maggie Pye. A body is found washed up on the shore, and is required to be identified, the body is found headless, and is wearing a Maori medal around it's neck, and Tommo's wallet in the pockets of the clothing. Mary and Hawk are called into Alexandria morgue to identify the body, and Mary confirms it is in fact the body of her son Tommo. It later becomes apparent that Tommo had devised a clever plan and had found and murdered Sparrer Fart, but changing the identity to his own at the very last minute, which prevented further investigations being made.

Tommo has retreated to New Zealand, where his daughter resides and has been raised by the Maori chief. Hawk follows Tommo to New Zealand, and is there with his brother in his last days before Tommo's passing, the wound in Tommo's head making Tommo extremely ill and causing the passing of his final days.

Hinetitema, Tommo's daughter is now 21, she is very strong willed and stubborn just like her father Tommo. Hawk tries to convince Hinetitema to come to Auckland to meet her Grandmother Mary Abacus. Hinetitema will have nothing of it, as she wants to be a nurse, and continue to reside in New Zealand and assist the poor.


Hinetitema is working as a Nurse in New Zealand and succumbs to the effects of alcohol, hawk on one of his annual visits to New Zealand discovers she is missing, and finds her a mess, he cleans her up and brings her back to Hobart with him. Mary and Hinetitema get along famously even though both women are very similar in personality and extremely stubborn.

Mary is getting quite elderly and is desperate for a heir to take over The Potato Factory, with Tommo passed and Hawk' without a partner, her only hope is in Hinetitema. Mary sends multiple suiters for Hinetitema to consider, none of them are of interest to her. Mary makes a risky move and arranges for a former flame of her niece's to come to Hobart, he is an alcoholic and a card shark.

The move pays off for Mary and Hinetitiema and the Dutch man, marry and conceive two children Ben and Victoria.

20 years later and Ben has gone to Gallipoli with the Anzacs and becomes and Victoria is learning the business of the Potato Factory under the guiding hand of her Uncle Hawk.

This is a must read story for every Australian. Bryce had detailed the story of Gallipoli in a clear heart-wrenching descriptive, you feel like you are there with the soldiers and hoping not to die. Make sure you have a book of tissues on hand when you read this book.

An outstanding story and deserves 10 stars. This is a book that stay with you for eternity.

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There were parts of this book I really enjoyed and other parts that really seemed to drag on. I enjoyed the trilogy as a whole though.

Not as well structured and refined as his other books, but satisfying enough as the last book of the trilogy.

Excellent reader. Just listened to this entire trilogy over two weeks. Its well worth your time.

I enjoyed Tommo & Hawk much more. This book has left me wishing there was a fourth book, so that I may see an ending that would never come.

Solomon's Song is the third in the Australia series by Courtenay. I started with this one because it concerns Gallipoli, a subject I'm slowly becoming an expert on. Even though it is the finale of the series, it hasn't destroyed my desire t0 read the rest, as soon as possible.

The series concerns two families, connected and competing, from the colonization of Australia (actually Van Dieman's Land - Tasmania) to the year 1916.

I had to read half the book before the Gallipoli section started, but it was that first part that made me want to read the rest of the series. Abacus Mary, a transported convict, has built an incredibly successful brewry in her time on the island. Her two sons are expected to take over, but, through many machinations, only one becomes involved. Mary's two great-grandchildren are the focus of this section of the trilogy.

It's nearly impossible to begin to explain the relationship between and among the families. But the ownership and managing of the factory are the important aspect. Ben, the great-grandson, however, volunteers with Australia's best to fight in WWI for the Mother Country and show her and the world what top-notch soldiers the Australians are.

It's not completely unknown, but extremely rare, for me to cry while reading a book. I can't remember the last one. But Courtenay approaches much of the actual fighting at Galllipoli through letters from Ben to his sister Victoria. It's a marvelous way of reporting the stupidity, the ridiculousness and the totally unnecessary deaths incurred during the operation. (I guess you can tell my opinion on the invasion.....) When Ben, convalescing on a hospital ship writes to Victoria about the fates of his company, mates who would die for each other (which happens to pretty much all soldiers who fight together), the tears ran down my cheecks and I could hardly read. This is how affecting the idea of writing through letters was.

This may not be a good review since I haven't said much about the story and what actually happens and why you should read it, but it's an attempt to explain how much this entire book touched my heart.

The end of the long saga of the Potato factory and the Solomon family. Very disappointing and it gets 3 stars only because it was narrated by Humphrey Bower.