The Potato Factory is a 1995 historical-novel by
Bryce CourtenayArthur Bryce Courtenay AM is a South-African-born naturalized Australian novelist and one of Australia's most commercially successful authors.-Background and early years:...
, which was made into an Australian miniseries in 2000. The book is the first in a three-part series, followed by
Tommo & HawkTommo & Hawk is the 1997 second novel in the Australian Trilogy by Bryce Courtenay. The novel follows on from The Potato Factory and follows Mary's sons....
and
Solomon's SongSolomon's Song is the final novel in the Australian Trilogy by author Bryce Courtenay. It follows the novels The Potato Factory and Tommo & Hawk....
.
The Potato Factory has been the subject of some controversy regarding its historical accuracy and its portrayal of Jewish characters.
The book is based on
Ikey SolomonIsaac "Ikey" Solomon was an English criminal who became an extremely successful receiver of stolen property. He gained fame for his crimes, escape from arrest, and his high-profile recapture and trial...
, the so-called "Prince of Fences", and the basis of the
FaginFagin is a fictional character who appears as an antagonist of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, referred to in the preface of the novel as a "receiver of stolen goods", but referred to more frequently within the actual story as the "merry old gentleman" or simply the "Jew".-Character:Born...
character in the
Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
novel
Oliver TwistOliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
. Courtenay states in the book's introduction that it is a historical novel based on extensive research. Author Judith Sackville-O'Donnell, who wrote another book on
Ikey SolomonIsaac "Ikey" Solomon was an English criminal who became an extremely successful receiver of stolen property. He gained fame for his crimes, escape from arrest, and his high-profile recapture and trial...
, claimed that the book was inaccurate and anti-Semitic.
(News Article)
The book's other main character is fictional, a woman named Mary Abacus. Abacus goes from serving girl, to prostitute, to high-class madam, to prisoner transported to Tasmania, to successful businesswoman. She gets her name for her outstanding ability to use an
abacusThe abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool used primarily in parts of Asia for performing arithmetic processes. Today, abaci are often constructed as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires, but originally they were beans or stones moved in grooves in sand or on tablets of...
.
The story starts in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the early 19th century. Mary and Ikey start working together as business partners. It follows them as they are separately sent to Tasmania, a
penal colonyA penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...
at the time.
The book was made into a
four-part miniseries that aired in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 2000.
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