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Mary-Lou StephensMary-Lou Stephens
The Chocolate Factory: The new page-turning historical novel from the author of THE LAST OF THE APPLE BLOSSOM and perfect for winter reading Kindle Edition
by Mary-Lou Stephens (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 167 ratings
Love, friendship and dangerous secrets in the early years of CadIt's 1921, and after years of working for Cadbury's at Bournville, Dorothy Adwell is on her way to a new adventure in the colonies, helping to establish the Firm's new Australian factory. A promotion and a fresh start are just what she needs after the horrors of the Great War and the loss of her beloved husband. During the long sea voyage, she meets Thomas and is immediately drawn to him. The war has left Thomas damaged, both mentally and emotionally, and Dorothy vows to help him - if only he will let her.
Maisie Greenwood is the oldest daughter of a war widow, living on a pittance in the Hobart suburb of the Glebe. Her mother's health is failing, and with two younger siblings depending on her the security of a job at the brand-new Cadbury's factory is a godsend. With Dorothy's mentorship and her budding romance with fellow worker Frank, life begins to look a little sweeter.
Cadbury's competitors have one goal: to steal the recipe for Dairy Milk, the most popular chocolate in the world. But the recipe is kept in a vault and the few who know it are legally bound to never divulge its secret. When chocolate spies target the new factory, Dorothy and Maisie become caught up in their plot. Can they protect the recipe, help those they love and fulfil their own dreams?
A tangled web of ambition and intrigue melts into a tale as delicious and rich as chocolate.bury's Tasmanian factory.
From the Publisher
Product description
About the Author
Mary-Lou Stephens was born in Tasmania, studied acting at The Victorian College of the Arts and played in bands in Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney. Eventually she got a proper job - in radio, where she was a presenter and music director, first with commercial radio and then with the ABC.
She received rave reviews for her memoir Sex, Drugs and Meditation (2013), the true story of how meditation changed her life, saved her job and helped her find a husband. The Australian called her debut novel, The Last of the Apple Blossom (2021), 'an outstanding historical novel about women and the secrets and burdens they carry.'
Mary-Lou has worked and played all over Australia. Now she's travelling the world with her husband, slowly, and writing, mostly.
Photo Credit: Jessica Hinchliffe
Product details
ASIN : B0CDDH4ZDR
Publisher : HQ Fiction (1 February 2024)
Language : English
File size : 2628 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 441 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 36,536 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)270 in 20th Century Historical Romance (Kindle Store)
370 in 20th Century Historical Romance (Books)
1,769 in Historical Fiction (Kindle Store)Customer Reviews:
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 167 ratings
About the author
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Mary-Lou Stephens
Mary-Lou Stephens was born in Tasmania, studied acting at The Victorian College of the Arts and played in bands in Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney.
Eventually she got a proper job – in radio, where she was a presenter and music director, first with commercial radio and then with the ABC.
Mary-Lou has worked and played all over Australia and now travels the world with her husband, slowly, and writes, mostly.
Join Mary-Lou's mailing list for news, prizes and surprises at maryloustephens dot com dot au
Praise for The Chocolate Factory
"I devoured it in one sitting. It's an absolute treat - totally enthralling and completely and utterly satisfying. It's another triumph for Mary-Lou Stephens. " – Karen Brooks, best selling author of The Good Wife of Bath
"Sweet and bitter, and a story that’s brightly compelling and thought-provoking at once. With Stephen’s fine eye for historical detail and ear for dialogue that’s just right, this novel is a lovely leap into the past." – Kim Kelly winner of the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Prize
Praise for The Last of the Apple Blossom
"An outstanding historical novel about women and the secrets and burdens they carry. Mary-Lou Stephens’ debut is an impressive feat of storytelling, making her a name to watch." The Australian
"One of the most beautifully written books I’ve read." Tania Blanchard, best selling author
Praise for Sex, Drugs and Meditation
"Bracingly honest, funny and rewarding, this is a book you can't put down." Sydney Morning Herald
"Perfection. Sex, Drugs and Meditation is one of the best memoirs I have read in years." Walter Mason, The Universal Heart Book Club
"Funny, sage, insightful and just a little bit twisted." Who Magazine
"Stephens knows how to write a story, and she does so with honesty and good humour." MindFood Magazine
Top reviews
Top reviews from Australia
Kim
5.0 out of 5 stars The Chocolate FactoryReviewed in Australia on 16 July 2024
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I liked the link to Bournville in England and Claremont in Tasmania, and how the author created an historical timeline interweaved with romance, drama and details about the processes of chocolate making. Whether factual or not, it was an interesting story. I also like Cadbury chocolate! 😊😋
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Dodie
4.0 out of 5 stars The history of Cadbury's in TasmaniaReviewed in Australia on 15 February 2024
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Cadbury's chocolate company opened a factory in Hobart, Tasmania in 1924. The Quaker philosophy of the founders in UK was maintained in the new country. Workers were given good accommodation, assistance to travel to Australia, opportunities for education and promotion. The company supervised all aspects of the lives of the workers brought out from England. The novel covers the establishment of the new factory, the love stories of some of the staff, the approach of the Great Depression and even an industrial spy. The recipe for Dairy Milk Chocolate is not revealed but the process involved in making chocolate is described well. Ms. Stephens includes some of the local events which are not directly related to Cadburys such as a major fire in the city. This adds interest and rounds out the story. I live in Hobart so recognize the areas and places. I don't think this is necessary to enjoy the book. Anyone who likes history, chocolates and people will enjoy the book.
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carinya
3.0 out of 5 stars Am I mssing something or expecting too much.Reviewed in Australia on 29 April 2024
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I was keen to read this book because there is much to love about Cadbury's. There is the wonderful tradition of the Quaker foundation and the chocolate. Tasmania. I felt that the story was a little too predictable and not a lot of depth.
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Gen W
5.0 out of 5 stars Another fabulous story from Mary-LouReviewed in Australia on 9 February 2024
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After loving The Last of the Appleblossom, I have been waiting for another offering from Mary-Lou Stephens. The wait was worth it! The Chocolate Factory is a lovely read with more strong female characters, and once again set in Tasmania. I love Mary-Lou’s very sensory writing style. I could feel the cold, and smell the chocolate. I could hear the clacking of heels on hard floors and feel the press of passengers on the train.
If you enjoy a strong yet gentle storyline with just enough intrigue and characters you can relate to, then don’t hesitate. I’m already looking forward to her next offering.
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Rebecca
4.0 out of 5 stars Great storyReviewed in Australia on 31 January 2024
The Chocolate Factory was a great historical fiction about the setting up of the Cadbuy's chocolate factory in Tasmania. Having visited the factory and had taste tests when I was a kid I was really interested in reading this one. It's told from alternating viewpoints from Dorothy- a war widow who worked in the original Cadbury factory in Bournville and wants a fresh start, and Masie- a young local Tasmanian girl who needs to support her family by working at the factory.
I enjoyed the relationship between Dorothy and Masie, and these characters with the other workers, both the British and the locals. I also enjoyed the information about chocolate making and the rivalries with the local chocolate makers. There was a little mystery which added a nice touch. Overall it was an enjoyable story.
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Dani G
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely story including Australian history.Reviewed in Australia on 18 May 2024
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I really enjoyed this book as well as The Last of the Apple Blossom by the same author. Beautifully told.
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Ricky Onsman
4.0 out of 5 stars Chocolate flavoured historical romanceReviewed in Australia on 6 February 2024
As with Mary-Lou Stephens’ earlier book, The Last of the Apple Blossoms, my approach to The Chocolate Factory was a bit different.
The previous novel began at the time of the February 1967 bush fires in southern Tasmania, something my family lived through and of which I have strong memories. Between Hobart suburbs and the Huon Valley, the geography was also super familiar to me.
Much of The Chocolate Factory is set in and around the Cadbury’s factory at Claremont. This is also well known territory and very personal to me. Both my parents worked for over 10 years at Cadbury’s and we lived on the western fringe of Claremont at the foot of Mount Fawkner (maps say Faulkner but our school house was Fawkner after the settler, so we called the mountain the same).
While the events in the book take place in the early 1920s as the factory is being built, the geography of the site was very clear to me, as was the layout of the surrounding estate. I played soccer on fields bordering the cottages referred to in the book.
I remember Claremont railway station well, before it was closed in my final year at Claremont High School, 1974. And that school, opened in 1961 and merged with Rosetta High to become Montrose HS in 2011, stands across the suburb of Windermere from the edge of the river where the peninsula hosting the factory begins.
So, even with a time span of 50 years between the book’s setting and when I lived there, The Chocolate Factory’s geography brings back very strong memories for me.
And what of the book itself?
Stephens has developed into a very fine fiction writer. She has the critical knack of getting inside her characters’ heads, and taking readers with her. I like the way Stephens lets her characters jump to conclusions that turn out to be wrong, taking the reader along for the ride.
She also is very adept at describing the visual appearance of people and locations, making it easy to picture the characters and events vividly in your mind’s eye.
The story is very engaging, with intertwined sequences of events that both drive the narrative and create character studies. There are mysteries to be unravelled and puzzles to be solved, with some great plotting leading to plenty of unexpected twists towards the end.
There’s plenty of romance – often thwarted, restrained, misunderstood, or apparently unrequited, which means passions are more internalised than acted on, until the narrative lets true feelings come out.
And there’s a vivid historical aspect to the book, putting the story of Cadbury’s itself into context as an international commercial venture and giving a strong sense of the times in post-World War I Hobart and by extension Australia.
That’s a lot to pack into 448 pages, but Stephens makes it an easy and engaging read, well-paced as a story and well-balanced between characters and events, supported by a structure of chapters that in turn focus on the two main female characters.
For me, of course, there was the extra bite of nostalgia for the place I grew up. The Chocolate Factory evoked memories I hadn’t thought about it in years.
When I was 10 or 11, I’d visit a friend early on Sundays and we’d go down to the river to fish off the jetty at Austins Ferry as the Bridgewater Jerry came rolling down the Derwent. I hadn’t thought about that peculiar thick fog in decades, and it’s only a minor observation in the book, but it made my heart leap.
The question is, what, when and where in my childhood and youth will Stephens set her next novel? Youth hostelling along the east coast of Tasmania? Fruit picking in Sandfly with African revolutionaries? Stumbling on the hydro-electric ghost town of Waddamana? I can hardly wait!
In the meantime, The Chocolate Factory is highly recommended.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and emotionalReviewed in Australia on 27 May 2024
Full of historical information, emotion and strong characters, this book was set in the early 1920's in Tasmania, Australia and was both intriguing and interesting. The main character, Dorothy, was certainly a "woman before her time" with regard to her engineering knowledge in a man's world. I found the chocolate making process enlightening. The lives of women and men who had been shipped from England to set up the Cadbury Factory in Tasmania, woven into the story were believable and emotional. A lovely book.
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