I taught her to use the word 'abrogate' during a briefing, and she recommended this book early on in our correspondence. Of course, being the precocious flirt that I am, I picked up a copy at a local independent book-seller.

Courtenay takes characters from Dickens and translates them into relatable anti-heroes. ( )

This was a fantastic homage to Dickens and captivating historical fiction. Most of us know of Australia's penal colony history but this book brings that history to life. The characters are memorable, imperfect and quirky. The story carries you along through the ups, the downs, the twists, the turns, the triumphs and the struggles of these wonderful characters. There are at least two scenes deeply imbedded in my psyche just as the horse beating scene in Crime and Punishment will be with me forever. That means that this book will not soon be forgotten - if ever - and I look forward to the second book in this trilogy. ( )

Bryce Courtenay never ceases to impress me with his wonderful storytelling skills. The plot, while slow in some parts, was riveting and by the last three hundred or so pages I was turning those pages as fast as I could. The characters were beautifully crafted and developed over the novel, and I am curious to know how much is indeed fact and how much is fiction. I would have liked to know what happened to the secondary characters such as Bob Marley and Sparrer Fart, but I could understand when they were no longer necessary to the plot. I look forward to getting my hands on the next two books of the trilogy. ( )

Terrific tale (first of very strong trilogy), terrific presentation, of history of Australia. Head of family is a Fagin-type low life Jew in London, eventually transported to Australia... ( )

review finally!.

Ikey Solomon and his partner in crime, Mary Abacus, 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 builds The Potato Factory - a brewery, where she plans a new future. But her ambitions are threatened by Ikey's wife, Hannah, her old enemy. As each woman sets out to destroy the other, the families are brought to the edge of disaster.

The characters Ikey, Mary and Hannah (Ikey's wife) were documented real people & some of the other characters in Tasmania are based on real historical people. Although Ikey's character is partially based on Fagin ( from Dicken's Oliver Twist) it's interesting just how much Courtenay has borrowed of Dicken's Twist to flesh out Ikey's London years particularly with his apprentice thieves. This is the first Courtneay book I've read. It's faced paced generally and keeps you hooked though a few chapters here and there dragged -although interesting & possibly historically close to actual reality of the early whalers, the point was long in coming eg. the chapter about Blue Whale Sally.

Here and there I was annoyed at some of Courtenay's descriptions of our particular Australian things such as daub and wattle huts. They felt like they were lifted out of the wikipedia, awkward and jarring compared to the dialogue. This may be because Courtneay is not Australian, Or ? felt the international reader needed that type of stilted information. Normally when I come across a term or phrase I am not familiar with in a book I look it up myself...I don't need the author to give an encyclopedic explanation midstream -that only works if two characters are speaking or there is a constant omnipresent narrator which I don't feel is present here. ( a glossary at the end - is more acceptable).

My other complaint is while Ikey is mostly billed as the main character, when he dies 3/4 way through, it's announced in a letter and the reader is wondering how and while there are two books in this series following this one, it seems odd he is so suddenly out of the picture. The real heroine of the book is Mary in my opinion, and it is she who achieves some greatness & transformation in the course of the story. I felt for her from the beginning, while Ikey was a little harder to understand, though I came to love him too with his penchant for liking many pockets in his coats.

Those who have no knowledge of convict times in Australia will find the conditions & punishments harsh. While I've read accounts before of conditions on the transport ships and of the lashings, beatings and meagre food rations and the inhumanity of The Female Factory orphans, it still shocks me. Makes you wonder sometimes how our Aussie psyche evolved into a "she'll be right mate" attitude.

There are several good quotes in the book, two I listed below - if I have time will find the others.

(wireless router problems...review later

Score! 50c today op shop find.

There was an Australian mini series made of this book with Lisa McClune which I missed probably for the better since many down under mini series end up seeming the same, particular period ones.

"When the poor embrace the tenants of morality it comes ready-made with misery as it's constant companion".

..."it is not the nature of things to remain calm. Contentment is always a summer to be counted in brief snatches of sunlight while unhappiness is an endless winter season of dark and stormy weather".

loaned to pop ( )