{"id":29,"date":"2022-05-24T13:57:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T03:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/?page_id=29"},"modified":"2022-06-03T15:07:15","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T05:07:15","slug":"the-factory","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/?page_id=29","title":{"rendered":"The Factory"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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The spaghetti factory in the deepest south of Africa binds the lives of three women to its production line. Lizzie turns to God, Anthea to the white boss, Deirdrie turns to herself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Lyn Hughes\u2019 stories have been sought by Australian magazines ever since she moved to Sydney from South Africa. In her first novel she brings her strongest characters together under the one roof of\u00a0The Factory<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The writing is so strong, the violence and hardship so palpable, the reader feels marked by acid burns.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But the women survive\u2014against all odds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Published by Pascoe Publishing Pty Ltd in 1990.<\/p>\r\n

ISBN0947087206<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Factory was shortlisted for the National Book Council\u2019s Qantas New Writer\u2019s Award.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018The Factory is her first novel and strong, heady stuff. The bonds between three women on a production line of a spaghetti factory\u2026form the substance of the novel. The integrity of each woman\u2019s decision is explored with enormous compassion and understanding. Violence and hardship are ever present and the manner in which the women\u2019s lives are worked around these realities is quite remarkable. The rawness and insight are reminiscent of Toni Morrison\u2019s Beloved.\u2019 The Sydney Morning Herald<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018Her deceptively simple novel builds in strength through taciturn, short-story-like chapters\u2026 The looming authorial presence is mercifully absent, an unusual quality in a first novel, especially one that deals with power and sexual politics. Her spare and sometimes harsh writing occasionally drifts into a more poetic style, but she has such control over her craft that she manages these transitions seamlessly.\u2019 The Australian.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018\u2026read this novel and listen to Deirdre and her friends talk. Hughes has a wonderful flair with dialogue and a fine sense of the comedy that lurks behind every tragedy. A powerful and very moving book\u2019. Australian Book Review<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018In a Cape Town factory, Lyn Hughes sets the stage for a powerful drama\u2026(she) pulls no punches..(the novel) subtly explores patterns of female giving and taking and inner conflicts about knowledge and power, strength and weakness\u2026in ways that make one look forward to more of Lyn Hughes.\u2019 The Age<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018Hughes can imagine herself into an impressive range of very different people. The way Hughes describes attempts to transcend unpromising circumstances is one of the book\u2019s great strengths. Hughes writes with a vividness and directness that brings freshness to clich\u00e9d incidents. Her account of an abortion, for instance, is one of the strongest and most harrowing I\u2019ve read.\u2019 The Canberra Times<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018\u2026a blunt and harrowing account of modern-day South Africa\u2026the women are full of life and utterly believable, which makes their pain very real\u2026an uncompromising first novel and certainly a \u2018must-read\u2019. The Tribune.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018Hughes writes brilliantly, propelling the reader through the narrative just for the pleasure of a style that has the extraordinary quality of being detailed and spare at the same time. The Factory is unusual and alarming. And an extremely good read.\u2019 National Book Council, \u2018Top Shelf\u2019<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018Anyone who wants to understand the awesomely painful metamorphosis that South Africa\u2019s Afrikaners will have to endure to heal the cancerous lesion of centuries of racism, guilt and oppression should read Lyn Hughes\u2019 first novel, The Factory. She has captured the rich and tragic ironies of the shadowed world\u2026 in language that is as tangy as boerewors sausage, as chilling as the Cape south-easter wind, and as powerful and richly satisfying as a slug of KWV brandy. More, please.\u2019 Herald Mercury<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The spaghetti factory in the deepest south of Africa binds the lives of three women to its production line. Lizzie turns to God, Anthea to the white boss, Deirdrie turns to herself. Lyn Hughes\u2019 stories have been sought by Australian magazines ever since she moved to Sydney from South Africa. In her first novel she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":38,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-29","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":793,"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions\/793"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynhughes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}