The Potato Factory: A Novel by Bryce Courtenay

This hardcover book is beat up and the outer edges of the pages are yellowed. The dust cover has seen better days.  However, despite all of that, the pages are more or less bright and the book is quite readable.  It's just kind of, uh... grubby and I've priced it accordingly.

Ikey Solomon is very successful indeed, in the art of thieving. 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 19th century London to Van Diemens 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. As each woman sets out to destroy the other, the families are brought to the edge of disaster.