The Potato Factory cover art

The Potato Factory

The Australian Trilogy, Book 1

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The Potato Factory

By: Bryce Courtenay
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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About this listen

Ikey Solomon is very successful indeed, in the art of thieving. Ikey's partner in crime is his mistress, the forthright Mary Abacus, until misfortune befalls them. They are parted and each must make the harsh journey from 19th century London to Van Diemens Land.

In the backstreets and dives of Hobart Town, Mary learns the art of brewing and builds The Potato Factory, where she plans a new future. But her ambitions are threatened by Ikey's wife, Hannah, her old enemy. The two women raise their separate families. As each woman sets out to destroy the other, the families are brought to the edge of disaster.

©2013 Bryce Courtenay.By arrangement with Penguin Group (Australia). Copyright Christine Courtenay (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Historical Fiction Fiction Business

Critic Reviews

"In the tradition of Charles Dickens, Courtenay creates a unique cast of characters from the outset of this epic novel....Humphrey Bower's performance is a marvel...making this one of those rare books with a sweep of characters the readers come to care about deeply." ( AudioFile Magazine)
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A great ‘Dickensian’ story teller and likeable narrator sadly without quite the knowledge of British accents he thinks he has (Australian). Could have been improved to a triple 5 with a native English multi-dialect narrator like Anton Lesser and quite a few others. BC is a remarkable novelist of yesteryear in a genre which nowadays seem to be dominated only by women. I suppose nothing wrong with that but nice to know the men can sometimes keep their end up to a similar standard. After this and the ‘The Power of One’ I will have to read the rest. Strange that I had never heard of him till an elderly friend brought thus author to me. A wonderful discovery. An Author who loves creating great characters and takes into account the real history of the period he is writing about.

A great story teller

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Made me feel like I was back in the 18th century. Totally enthralled could not stop listing, couldn't wait to get to the next in the series. Great story using history 👍

Excellent

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What a wonderful tale.

Mr Courtney says in the beginning of this book that it was intended as a gift to the Australia he loved so much, and it absolutely felt like that to read it. Somehow it unwrapped more layers than I knew existed to this mysterious land and its curious people.

"The Potato Factory" at once transcended the flacid history lessons I pretended to listen to as a child and young adult, to kindle the appropriate wonder that could have and should have existed my whole life.

It delicately and brutally starts where 'we' started, in the atrocious class system and its accompanying abject poverty and degradation of early 19th century England, which is a blistering eye-opener of shocking quality. We eventually 'migrate' to the ancient Van Diemen's Land, where the modern Australia pulls itself into being.

The characters in the book (many of which are from real history) carry the tale and tenet of the story magnificently and a yearning, fear, elation, guilt, sadness and shame are gifted to the sensitive reader... especially the happy-go-lucky present day Australian.

The narrator, Humphrey Bower, is superb and his rendering of the main character, Ike Solomon, is stupendously good. I found myself marvelling at his imagination of the character. The accent and lilt of his voice is truly inspired.

Thank you so much!

Grand.

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Narrator was exceptional. His accents were incredibly. A must read. The story line kept you entrenched and you wanted more.

Riviting. ...

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This amazing book kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through, The story line is Fantastic and the narrator is beyond belief, his accents are amazing … I loved every minute of this book.

FANTASTIC !!!!!!!!

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Where does The Potato Factory rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

8 out of 10

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Potato Factory?

Traveling on the ship with the female convicts

What does Humphrey Bower bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

His accent is wonderful

Wonderful story of history easy to listen to.

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This epic tale blew my socks off. I’m absolutely locked in for the next two of the series.

Absolute must read

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Really enjoyed this book. Great insight into life in Australia in the early years. What an outstanding story.

Amazing insight into life in England and Australia in the 1800s

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Humphrey bower is an absolute delight. Original Aussie accent but perfect in all characters from Scottish to English to American. A real delight! And the Story, well it is Bryce Courtney. So top notch as usual.

Best audio book ever

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can't wait to start the next book in the series. I highly recommend this book.

Amazing story and production.

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