Joellen

It is rare to understand the history of a specific region; there is simply too much information about the plight of all people, the landscape, the political times, to make sense of the period. The Potato Factory is an anomaly. This first book of Bryce Courtenay’s trilogy brings this time to life. Not only are you involved in the lives of crooks and scoundrels, whores and bawdy houses, but the treatment these poor wretches receive is disgusting--and most horrid is the plight of the children. The saga of the characters from England to Australia persists, as a reader you begin to admire and respect them and their tenacity. I could not stop listening…and being a cheap Audible user, I waited two weeks until I could download the second book. It was every bit as good as the first book. What a treasure. The third book in the Potato Factory is not on Audible. By the time it is I’m sure I’ll have listened to the first two books again, just to hear the story—and contrary to other reviewer I thoroughly enjoyed Humphrey Bower the narrator.

Every once in a while a book is so powerful that you never want it to end. I will miss all the Alma's and Leo. What happened to Bruno? Was he real, or a figment of Leo's imagination? I sat transfixed in my car wondering how they could be gone. The connections were rich, amazing how in a city the size of New York--Germany, South American it might be possible for those connections. Those of us in small towns are never surprised by knowing everyone, but secretly hope that in large cities there may be anonymity. Every voice, every turn of events, was so well crafted by this author, (and the readers) that I was sad it had ended and have engineered my own hopes for the characters.