-
The Potato Factory
- The Australian Trilogy, Book 1
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 23 hrs and 22 mins
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Publisher's summary
Ikey Solomon's favorite saying is also his way of doing business, and in the business of thieving he's very successful indeed. 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.
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)
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As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
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Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
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Hunting Game
- By: Candice Fox
- Narrated by: Krysten Ritter, Anthony Mackie, Tony Goldwyn, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Prepare to be captivated by acclaimed crime writer Candice Fox’s gripping audio thriller, Hunting Game. Featuring an all-star cast including Krysten Ritter, Anthony Mackie, and Tony Goldwyn, you’re about to enter a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. NYPD Detective Esme 'Es' Compran (Krysten Ritter) finds herself torn between her duty and her own desperate circumstances when a child is kidnapped. The victim's father, Jack Dengate (Tony Goldwyn), is a controversial big pharma CEO whose company's price hikes on life-saving drugs have dire consequences for Es' ailing daughter.
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Man what a GREAT story….BUT……
- By ShawniqueLovesToRead on 03-15-24
By: Candice Fox
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Weeds
- By: Amanda Wilkin
- Narrated by: Lesley Sharp, Adelle Leonce, Joshua James, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 29 mins
- Original Recording
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Climate activist Shirley Watts has dedicated her entire life to protecting the planet for future generations. But constantly fighting for Mother Earth has taken its toll over time, leaving her in a precarious relationship with her adult daughter, Lela. When Shirley’s latest climate stunt lands her in serious legal jeopardy, Lela reluctantly lets Shirley stay with her and her boyfriend while awaiting her upcoming trial.
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Great short story
- By N. Miller on 03-24-24
By: Amanda Wilkin
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Find Her
- By: Sarah A. Denzil
- Narrated by: Catrin Walker-Booth
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s Christmas Day at Wilder House, and three magical winter weddings are set to begin. But as the tables are arranged, and the food is prepared, a perfect storm hits, cutting every guest from the rest of the world. Most little girls dream of the perfect wedding. But this bride stumbles alone into the snow, her silk train dragging through dirt, her hands bloody from the murder she just committed. Now there is at least one killer roaming the unforgiving landscape surrounding Wilder House. Who else will die on Christmas Day?
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a little bit of wicked fun
- By A. Bohn on 01-25-24
By: Sarah A. Denzil
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The Bedroom Window
- By: K. L. Slater
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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My darling little boy Albie adores playing at our new neighbours’ house. And after the terrible year we’ve had, I feel so lucky that we can start over in this perfect place, with new friends who treat Albie like the son they never had. He can’t stop talking about the tree house they’re building him, and the cookies they bake together. But as time passes, something starts to feel wrong. Why don’t they ever open the front door more than a crack? They told me they had no children so who does the small pink tricycle I saw in their hall belong to?
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Miss Lucy-price Lewis
- By Angie on 06-07-23
By: K. L. Slater
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Hit in the solar plexus
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Not Just Another Fish Story - something special
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No light reading!
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An excellent sequel
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Compelling story lifted higher by the narration
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Not Just Another Fish Story - something special
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No light reading!
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At just 16 years Danny Dunn has everything going for him: brains, looks, sporting aptitude - and luck with the ladies. His mother steers him towards a university education, but with just six months of his degree to go, he signs up for the AIF, driven by a desire to serve his country and plain wanderlust. Danny serves in South-east Asia, spends three and a half years as a POW, and returns a broken man, embittered and facially disfigured. He is scared and overwhelmed by the need to sort himself out, to find out who the hell he is....
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Oh Danny Boy!
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It's the 1960s and the world of advertising is coming alive - and it's an exciting world to be part of. Simon Wong, a Chinese-Australian and promising young advertising executive, is sent to Singapore to establish an office. He finds himself thrust into an environment that is at once strangely familiar and profoundly different; one where the rules that govern behaviour - both in business and in personal life - differ wildly from what he is used to. And where all is not what it appears to be.
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You need a refresh Mr Bower and Mr Courtenay
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By: Bryce Courtenay
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April Fool's Day
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This is Bryce Courtenay's moving tribute to his son, Damon, a hemophiliac who died from medically acquired AIDS on April 1, 1991, at the age of 24. April Fool's Day is controversial, painful and heartbreaking, yet has a gentle humor. It is also life-affirming, and, above all, a testimony to the incredible regenerative strength of love: how when we confront our worst, we can become our best. This tragic yet uplifting story will change the way you think.
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This is A Love Story
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By: Bryce Courtenay
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Smoky Joe's Cafe
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Thommo returns from Vietnam to an Australia that regards him as a mercenary guilty of war crimes. He begins to develop all kinds of physical and mental problems, and thinks it must only be him until he finds he is not alone. Ten mates, all who remain of his platoon who fought and died in the Battle of Long Tan, are affected the same way.
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Australian Vietnam vet with Agent Orange
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The Power of One
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Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, little six-year-old Peekay learns that small can beat big. Armed with this knowledge, he resolves to take on the injustices of his country, and sets his heart on becoming the welterweight champion of the world. Peekay starts to take boxing lessons, makes new friends, collects cacti, and plays the piano. Above all, he learns to think with his head and then with his heart. Peekay discovers that nothing can defeat the determination to be true to yourself: This is the power of one.
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Distracted by poor rendition of the South African accent
- By Terry on 05-17-16
By: Bryce Courtenay
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Sylvia
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From master storyteller Bryce Courtenay comes a colorful, lusty story set in the 13th century, an epic tale of a Europe torn by religious intolerance. The story centers around Sylvia Honeyeater, who sings like an angel and can literally charm the birds from the trees. The narrative also features the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Francis of Assisi, the Muslim Sultan and his harem, and the fervor that becomes the Children's Crusade and then, later, the Crusades.
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a departure for Bryce
- By G. on 06-11-07
By: Bryce Courtenay
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The Family Frying Pan
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Mrs. Moses is a small woman with a big heart and enormous courage. The only survivor of a Cossack raid on her village, she takes with her a big cast-iron frying pan, so heavy that she can only sling it over her back. Yet this is no ordinary frying pan, it's The Family Frying Pan, blessed with a Russian soul.
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Bad Narrator Decision!
- By Johnnie Walker on 04-29-10
By: Bryce Courtenay
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I Heard the Owl Call My Name
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The touching story of a young, mortally ill priest who spends his last days working among the Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia.
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Uncanny insight...
- By MetaThink on 03-22-15
By: Margaret Craven
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The Silver Moon
- Reflections on life, death and writing
- By: Bryce Courtenay
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Each of us has a place to return to in our minds, a place of clarity and peace, a place to think, to create, to dream. For Bryce Courtenay this place was a waterhole in Africa where he used to escape to as a boy, in search of solitude. One evening, while lingering there, he witnessed the tallest of the great beasts drinking from the waterhole in the moonlight, and was spellbound. Ever since, he drew inspiration from this moment.
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Wish it was longer!
- By Skye on 05-09-16
By: Bryce Courtenay
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The Winds of War
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 45 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Herman Wouk's sweeping epic of World War II stands as the crowning achievement of one of America's most celebrated storytellers. Like no other books about the war, Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of global events - and all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of World War II - as it immerses us in the lives of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom.
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A Masterpiece
- By Robert on 05-24-13
By: Herman Wouk
What listeners say about The Potato Factory
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- karen
- 11-30-05
Best audiobook of the year!
If there were an audiobook award for 'best of the year', Bryce Courtney's 'The Potato Factory' would get my vote, hands down. It has everything -- a compelling story, unforgetable characters, a plot with historical authenticity, and a narrator that can't be beat.
Scholars debate how historically accurate 'The Potato Factory' really is -- I personally knew very little about the founding of Australia, from its penal colony days, but in at least one sense, it doesn't matter. The story succeeds brilliantly, even if it were pure fiction. There is likewise debate about whether the book is anti-semitic -- as a Jew, I can't see any tinge of anti-Jewish feeling. Quite the contrary, in many instances. It's hardly a surprise that there were (and are) Jews of less than sterling character. Ikey Solomon, as portrayed by Courtney, is both lovable and dispicable, fully human and utterly fascinating. A man of his time, in a society that was very different from that which we live in today.
Special congratulations should go to Humphrey Bower, the narrator. Through a truly Dickensian cast of characters (including a cameo from the Boz himself!) from street urchins, to upper class Brits, through every element of British and then exiled-society in Van Damiens Land, men and women, adults and children, Bower does a masterful job of portrayal. Each voice is unique, each rings true. There oughta be Academy Awards for acting jobs like this one!
'The Potato Factory' is actually the first book of a trilogy that Courtney calls his gift to Australia. Having just finished listening to this first installment, I'm now on the hunt for the second and third books -- Audible would be doing an amazing service to its listeners if they also provided the next two. Having experienced the first, I can't imagine not wanting to hear the rest of the story as told by Courtney.
Don't miss this classic tale. "The Potato Factory" has it all -- audiobooks just don't get any better than this.
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213 people found this helpful
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- Jan
- 02-25-12
Powerfully told story... but a warning
A woven tapestry tale with the bawdy, tender, joyous and horrific. He opens the slums of London and the prisioner deportations to Tasmania to our view. You learn history in passing but more important meet characters so complex, that I felt I knew them... almost as friends who shared what they had learned from life. It is a hard book to put down, but does include a great deal of profanity, whores, multiple graphic sexual events and violence. With all the good in it, I still strongly wouldn't recommend for a teen reader or tender spirited soul.
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133 people found this helpful
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- Janice
- 01-08-13
Should have believed the cautionary reviews
Once again I have chosen a book that is very well written and perfectly read, but populated with such unappealing characters that I felt like I needed to take a shower after each listening session. The writing is compared to Dickens in several reviews, appropriately so since the main villian (supposed hero) is the real life inspiration for Fagan. In his preface the author warns us that his characters are "odious", but assures us that we will grow to love them. I did not. Did such violence and depravity really exist in that day and time? I'm sure it did. But that doesn't mean I want to be immersed in the muck. Even Dickens gave us some positive characters.
So I will add my caution to previous unhappy reviewers: If you do not enjoy very explicitly graphic sexual (and I don't mean romantic) and violent scenes, and if making heroes of villians is not your cup of tea, then pass on this one. The only reason I am allowing a 3 star rating is in acknowledgement of the author's obvious writing skills, but it does not mean that I enjoyed his "odious" characters. I am just grateful that I did not purchase the next two volumes in the series, because I won't be reading them.
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119 people found this helpful
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- Clare
- 04-02-12
Not for the faint of heart
Would you consider the audio edition of The Potato Factory to be better than the print version?
I've not read the print version.
What does Humphrey Bower bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Excellent reader. He portrays the various characters well.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I read quite a bit of historical fiction, but this is such a violent story, I'm not sure I'm actually glad to have read it. Not that it isn't good. It's well done. But some of the descriptions I wish I could expunge from my memory. I could have lived the rest of my life without the particularly graphic and violent visuals this author is so proficient at writing.
I'm not naive and I am pretty tough minded, but beware. The pictures this author paints are not easily forgotten.
I did feel the ending gave enough hope to make me want to read more of this series, but it's going to be a while.
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97 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Rebecarol
- 09-19-08
Read this Author!!
My biggest complaint about Bryce Courtney is...his titling! The two books I've listened to, "Brother Fish" and "The Potato Factory" are truly marvelous stories-- and I do call them stories vs. novels purposefully. Yet the titles don't entice, and these books richly deserve...to be enticing. Courtney is just an awesome storyteller, it's okay that there's predictability, a bit of cliche, a bit of platitude. Because that's just... a bit. Much more than those small bits and pieces, there is a great Courtney universe to enjoy. This particular book -- a book about the notorious "Prince of Fences," a true-life scoundrel of the gravest sort--his wife and his one-time mistress...all shipped to Australia... is incredibly rich in character development. As in "Brother Fish" Courtney has treated his female characters with the same generosity that he has his males, and once again he treats of villains and villainy in a way that doesn't demonize and doesn't border on caricature.
I think, when I'velistened to these books that more than anything I am impressed that they're gripping, fun, marvelous stories that are written by a man of compassion-- you can feel this author's huge, gorgeous heart beating through the pages. The other thing that's interesting-- both books I've read emphasize literacy-- reading saves the characters again and again, and in fact the book jacket informs us that the author is a literacy champion. Beyond his advocacy, the works themselves are the best champions, he has written books that can truly instill the love of reading...and the desire to read more within its readers. Strong recommendation!
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60 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Debra
- 02-18-06
always leave alittle salt on the bread
After listening to "The Power of one" and "Tandia" which where brilliant and signing up with audible. This was the first place I headed was to Bryce Courtenay section. I listened to "The Potato Factory. And to take one of Mr. Courtenays comments I have learnt more out of story books than history books. Being Australian and learning about the penial colonies allowed me to have a picture in my mind whilst this wonderful book was being beautifully read by Humphrey Bower. Really encapsulated it all for me and bringing me to a new level of understanding. I like others would like to know what the other 2 parts are to Mr. Courtenays gift, that he has so beautifully given Australia. The most throughtful and gracious gift. That we as a Country are the most fortunate to be the recipients of. And now the decision of what to listen to of Mr. Courtenay's next
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52 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lorenrw
- 01-17-08
Outstanding listen
This first book of a trilogy, was as good or better than any book/books I have listned to out of the more than 120 books I have downloaded through Audible. Out of all the reviews not one listed all three books and in the order they were written. All are avialible through Aubible. This trilogy of novels contains "The Potato Factory", "Tommo & Hawk" and "Solomon's Song". In that order. Another book by the same author "Brother Fish" was outstanding. Maybe a tad better (if that is possible) than the aforementioned Trilogy.
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Overall
- CynNC
- 08-14-08
A True Adventure
This was my very first Bryce Courtaney, had never even heard of him ... I did a search for historical fiction over 20 hours long and this was one that came up, it sounded interesting so I figured, why not .... WOW, I was hooked right away, with both the fantastic story and the awesome narrator Humphery Bower. I think it took me 2 days to finish it cause I could not put it down. As soon as it ended I downloaded the other 2 books in the trilogy, Tommo & Hawk and Solomon's song. Of course this is a fictional story but knowing that some characters are based on real people made it all the more interesting. I have gone on to download many more of Bryce Courtaney's and have never been the least bit disappointed.
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42 people found this helpful
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Overall
- K. Lawson
- 04-15-08
At least SIX stars!
Bryce Courtenay and Humphrey Bower are sheer genius together. I can't imagine one without the other. Although the writing is truly extraordinary, Mr. Bower's narration makes The Potato Factory come to life for over 23 much-anticipated hours. Just the Dickensian settings and names of the characters alone are worth the read but there's SO much more. All of the listener's senses are piqued as the characters and story richly unfold. I'd actually find myself tightly closing my eyes to keep out the especially nasty parts only to realize that it's the magic of the narrator that has made them come so alive. PLEASE get this book. Enjoy each and every word. I've listened to dozens of Audible books (and read hundreds more) and this is without a doubt, the best of the best.
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41 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Joellen
- 08-24-06
Learning history through fiction
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.
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24 people found this helpful