From the back cover:

Mary Abacus, tenacious, spirited and a woman of independent mind, has arrived in her new land under the most onerous of circumstances.

Sometime mistress of the notorious London criminal, Ikey Solomon, Mary has been transported to Van Diemen's Land for running a bawdy house. She is soon jointed on the convict settlement by Ikey and his wife, Hannah, herself a strong-minded woman, consumed by warring passions, a great love for her children and a loathing for her husband and his mistress.

Determined to survive their past and to shape a new future, the two women raise separate families - one legitimate, the other bastard, and both bearing the name Solomon.

Ruled by Ikey's greed, Hannah's hate and Mary's unswerving ambition, the families ride the brink of disaster as each woman sets out to destroy the other.

The Potato Factory is the first book in a trilogy that spans the short and brilliant history of Australia. Bryce Courtenay's powerful narrative gets closer to the truth of our nation's beginnings - and the strong and independent women who have been its cornerstone - that perhaps any other fictional account. He tells us who we are and where we have come from in a compelling and irresistible story that touches the heart.

On the bookshelves at Melbourne Central Little Library