The Potato Factory
  • Published: 5 June 2006
  • ISBN: 9780143004561
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 800
  • RRP: $30.00
Categories:

The Potato Factory

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Ikey Solomon is in the business of thieving and he's very good at it. 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 thriving nineteenth century London to the convict settlement of Van Diemen's 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, one legitimate and the other bastard. As each woman sets out to destroy the other, the families are brought to the edge of disaster.
  • Published: 5 June 2006
  • ISBN: 9780143004561
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 800
  • RRP: $30.00
Categories:

About the author

Bryce Courtenay

The late Bryce Courtenay was the bestselling author of The Power of One, Tandia, April Fool's Day, The Potato Factory, Tommo & Hawk, Solomon's Song, Jessica, A Recipe for Dreaming, The Family Frying Pan, The Night Country, Smoky Joe's Cafe, Four Fires, Matthew Flinders' Cat, Brother Fish, Whitethorn, Sylvia, The Persimmon Tree, Fishing for Stars, The Story of Danny Dunn, Fortune Cookie, Jack of Diamonds and The Silver Moon: Reflections and Stories on Life, Death and Writing. The Power of One is also available in an edition for younger readers, and Jessica has been made into an award-winning television miniseries.

portrait photo of Bryce Courtenay

Also by Bryce Courtenay

The Power of One
The Power of One: Popular Penguins
April Fool's Day: Popular Penguins
Jessica
The Power of One: Young Readers' Ed
Jack Of Diamonds
Solomon's Song
See all

Praise for The Potato Factory

Courtenay offers an ersatz Dickens novel, a sort of Australian Oliver! but without the music.

Sunday Age

The Potato Factory certainly has all the elements ... a heroine who triumphs over sordid beginnings, lashings of adversity, an epic journey, dollops of sex and sadism, a cast of colourful characters.

Sydney Morning Herald

The tale is vivid and instructive ... The Potato Factory is pure yarn-spinning, rattling along at heart-thumping pace. Barely a page goes by without incident. And for those who like their plots dense and melodramatic, Courtenay's in a class of his own.

Time
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