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Lola in the Mirror
Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies , Trent Dalton.
'Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what's my future? What's my past?' A girl and her mother are on the lam. They've been running for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in the kitchen with the knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside an orange 1987 Toyota HiAce van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River � just two of the 100,000 Australians sleeping rough every night. The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But the girl has a dream. Visions in black ink and living colour. A vision of a life as a groundbreaking artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen 'Lady' Flora Box. A life of love with the boy in the brown suit who's waiting for her in the middle of the bridge that stretches across a flooding and deadly river. A life far beyond the bullet that has her name on it. And now that the storm clouds are rising, there's only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person's name is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can sometimes ever do. She must look in the mirror. A big, moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror. All of the past, all of the present, and all of our possible futures. 'Mirror, mirror, please don't lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me who am I.'
'Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what's my future? What's my past?' A girl and her mother are on the lam. They've been running for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in the kitchen with the knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside an orange 1987 Toyota HiAce van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River � just two of the 100,000 Australians sleeping rough every night. The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But the girl has a dream. Visions in black ink and living colour. A vision of a life as a groundbreaking artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen 'Lady' Flora Box. A life of love with the boy in the brown suit who's waiting for her in the middle of the bridge that stretches across a flooding and deadly river. A life far beyond the bullet that has her name on it. And now that the storm clouds are rising, there's only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person's name is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can sometimes ever do. She must look in the mirror. A big, moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror. All of the past, all of the present, and all of our possible futures. 'Mirror, mirror, please don't lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me who am I.'
512 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 17, 2023
3,043 people are currently reading
35.7k people want to read
About the author
Trent Dalton
10books2,826followersTrent Dalton writes for the award-winning The Weekend Australian Magazine. A former assistant editor of The Courier-Mail, he has won a Walkley, been a four-time winner of the national News Awards Feature Journalist of the Year Award, and was named Queensland Journalist of the Year at the 2011 Clarion Awards for excellence in Queensland media. His writing includes several short and feature-length film screenplays. His latest feature film screenplay, Home, is a love story inspired by his non-fiction collection Detours: Stories from the Street (2011), the culmination of three months immersed in Brisbane's homeless community, the proceeds of which went back to the 20 people featured within its pages. His journalism has twice been nominated for a United Nations of Australia Media Peace Award, and his debut novel Boy Swallows Universe was published in 2018.
He was nominated for a 2010 AFI Best Short Fiction screenplay award for his latest film, Glenn Owen Dodds, starring David Wenham. The film won the prestigious International Prix Canal award at the world's largest short film festival, The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. Dalton's debut feature film screenplay, In the Silence, is currently in production.
Trent also hosted the ABC Conversations show while Richard Fidler was on a Churchill Fellowship.
He was nominated for a 2010 AFI Best Short Fiction screenplay award for his latest film, Glenn Owen Dodds, starring David Wenham. The film won the prestigious International Prix Canal award at the world's largest short film festival, The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. Dalton's debut feature film screenplay, In the Silence, is currently in production.
Trent also hosted the ABC Conversations show while Richard Fidler was on a Churchill Fellowship.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,251 reviews
September 19, 2024
Update! Winner of the ABIA 2024 Literary Fiction Book of The Year! Congratulations Trent!!
‘Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what's my future? What's my past?'
Lola in the Mirror is a breathtaking exploration of love, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. Dalton's exquisite prose and masterful storytelling transport readers into the vivid and tumultuous world of our captivating protagonist whose journey of self-discovery unfolds against the backdrop of a sprawling Australian landscape.
As she navigates the complexities of family, friendships and identity, Dalton weaves a tapestry of emotions that tugs at the heartstrings and leaves a lasting impact. The novel's richly drawn characters leap off the page with depth and authenticity, drawing readers into their lives with empathy and understanding.
With its poignant themes and lyrical prose, Lola in the Mirror is a triumph of literary fiction that will resonate deeply with readers long after the final chapter.
Trent Dalton proves once again why he is a master storyteller, delivering a mesmerizing tale that is as beautiful as it is unforgettable.
My Highest Recommendation.
-Having personally met Trent Dalton last year, I can confirm he is one of the most beautiful, talented and kind hearted people I have ever met. The way he writes is genuinely the way he is.
‘Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what's my future? What's my past?'
Lola in the Mirror is a breathtaking exploration of love, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. Dalton's exquisite prose and masterful storytelling transport readers into the vivid and tumultuous world of our captivating protagonist whose journey of self-discovery unfolds against the backdrop of a sprawling Australian landscape.
As she navigates the complexities of family, friendships and identity, Dalton weaves a tapestry of emotions that tugs at the heartstrings and leaves a lasting impact. The novel's richly drawn characters leap off the page with depth and authenticity, drawing readers into their lives with empathy and understanding.
With its poignant themes and lyrical prose, Lola in the Mirror is a triumph of literary fiction that will resonate deeply with readers long after the final chapter.
Trent Dalton proves once again why he is a master storyteller, delivering a mesmerizing tale that is as beautiful as it is unforgettable.
My Highest Recommendation.
-Having personally met Trent Dalton last year, I can confirm he is one of the most beautiful, talented and kind hearted people I have ever met. The way he writes is genuinely the way he is.
September 28, 2024
Whoa, just catching my breath after this one. Back in Brisbane as in his first novel, this time in the West end next to the Brisbane River near the Victoria Bridge. While spinning this fantastical tale, we hear about the chronically unhoused, poverty, drug use and dealing, crime, the ever expanding housing waiting lists and how so many resources are already going toward hosting the 2032 Olympics.
This was a bigger than life rollercoaster ride of a novel. Our heroine/narrator is herself bigger than life and I won't be forgetting her anytime soon. Not an easy read, but always an entertaining one. A five star library ebook. Good stuff Mr Dalton.
This was a bigger than life rollercoaster ride of a novel. Our heroine/narrator is herself bigger than life and I won't be forgetting her anytime soon. Not an easy read, but always an entertaining one. A five star library ebook. Good stuff Mr Dalton.
November 3, 2023
5�
� ‘Do I have the monster blood in me, Mum?� I asked.
‘N,� she replied.
‘But he’s my father,� I said. ‘You said I got my gentle art side from you. What if I got a monster side from him?�
‘N,� Mum said, ‘you got more Monet blood than monster blood.�
‘Do you have any monster blood, Mum?� I asked.
‘Yeah, I think I got some,� she said. ‘How do you think I did what I did to your father?��
The girl has no name. Mum keeps changes both their names with every move. They are living rough in a scrapped orange van in a scrapyard by the Brisbane river where a few others have made their homes. The pair have been skipping around Australia on the run from the law, because sticking a paring knife in your husband’s throat is unacceptable, no matter how much of a monster he’s been.
I must first say that each chapter is introduced with the most wonderful sketches done by ‘the artist�, as the girl likes to think of herself in the imagined art critic reviews of her work hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, maybe in 2100. They are by the talented and are just perfect.
Here’s the illustration of Mum followed by the imagined commentary in 2100 by a stuffy English art critic named E.P. Buckle. She’s imaginative in every aspect of her life.
� 'Mum in the Jumper That Covers Her Scars, Walking Silently by the Brisbane River'
February 2023 - Pen and ink on paper
A revealing and tender reflection on the most significant day in the artist’s highly complex youth. The artist was two months away from celebrating her eighteenth birthday and experimenting, evidently, with anthropomorphic representations of the ones she loved the most.�
The scars are from “dancing the Tyrannosaurus Waltz� with violent men, a dance that often begins with alcohol and drugs and forces many women and children survivors onto the streets.
The girl has been protected by Mum, loves the library and spends a lot of time in the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art Bookshop, reading all of their art books. She’s acquired a unique perspective on art and artists.
Her mother is also a teacher, so her general knowledge is a lot better than you might expect.
“Mum says walking into a classroom as a relief teacher is like entering a cave of bears in a suit made of salmon skin.�
The Lola of the story is a woman the girl sees in an old, cracked Temple and Webster mirror she picked up from a kerbside collection. She’s almost 18 and has outgrown using the side mirrors on the 1987 Toyota Hi-Ace they live in.
She’s looking for the monster in herself. Instead, seeing her legs in the half below the crack, she sees a woman in a red dress in the top half, standing in a New York street and taking a drag on a cigarette. She desperately wants to see the woman’s face � but no luck. The next day, she sees her in France, below the Eiffel Tower.
“Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what’s my future? What’s my past? � Mirror, mirror, please don’t lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me, who am I?�
Mum has changed their names so many times that the girl says it’s tricky if they happen to meet someone from their travelling past, because she doesn’t always remember what name she was known by in Alice Springs, or wherever. I can imagine dealing with this at 17, but how on earth would Mum have protected her as a little girl?
“My mum never warns me about boys in cars. My mum only warns me about child protection officers in cars.�
There are many characters. It’s crowded out there. There are loyal street comrades and there’s Flo and her fish and chip ‘business� where Mum works, dealing drugs. Flo is kind to the girl, but her son is another monster. There are alcoholics and drug addicts, and some have formed their own sort of family groups.
Her language and thinking move between what she uses for day-to-day relationships and what she has read and learned. She’s certainly not your average 17-year-old street kid. There are long passages printed in italics, the life of 'the artist' as if told in the future.
She desperately wants to know who she is and what her real name is, and that quest is an interesting part of the story. Her conversations with her imagined woman in the red dress, whom she dubs “Lola�, and her real life interactions with best mate Charlie, drug-dealing Flo, and others kept me interested.
She is quick-witted and fleet-footed, and it’s a good thing she is. There are several absolutely hair-raising chase scenes near the end of the book where I was terrified for her. Her ‘people� are living a life that is far removed from my own, and I’m ashamed to be part of a society that lets this happen.
Dalton doesn’t sugarcoat her reality. He knows these people, has talked to them, cares about them. I liked the artist’s comment near the end.
“I take Adelaide Street, where I pass the portable writing desk of a man in a brown hat who spends his days recording the real-life love stories of Brisbane strangers on an old sky-blue Olivetti typewriter. I want to stop and tell him my story, but it isn’t finished yet.�
That man would be author Trent Dalton, appearing like Hitchcock as a cameo in his own work, collecting material for his (which I haven’t read yet) and which led to this book. Listening to Dalton talk about his work and his people, you immediately understand how much they mean to him. The following is from one interview on the ABC.
Talking about the artwork that accompanies the story, he says “I’ve always admired everyone who can scribble their reality.�
About the girl and people who survive and succeed by using what skills they have, he says:
“I think I’ll be writing about for as long as I live, this idea that there are things inside of us that can take us out of our present situation. And taking whatever thing you are half good at and making the absolute most of that to drag you out of the situation you’re in.�
I’m glad he gave this girl the passion and skills to help herself and got Paul Heppell to do the illustrations. I loved the book, her mirror-mirror talks, and her story.
Thanks to #NetGalley and HarperCollins Australia for the copy for review of #LolaintheMirror
� ‘Do I have the monster blood in me, Mum?� I asked.
‘N,� she replied.
‘But he’s my father,� I said. ‘You said I got my gentle art side from you. What if I got a monster side from him?�
‘N,� Mum said, ‘you got more Monet blood than monster blood.�
‘Do you have any monster blood, Mum?� I asked.
‘Yeah, I think I got some,� she said. ‘How do you think I did what I did to your father?��
The girl has no name. Mum keeps changes both their names with every move. They are living rough in a scrapped orange van in a scrapyard by the Brisbane river where a few others have made their homes. The pair have been skipping around Australia on the run from the law, because sticking a paring knife in your husband’s throat is unacceptable, no matter how much of a monster he’s been.
I must first say that each chapter is introduced with the most wonderful sketches done by ‘the artist�, as the girl likes to think of herself in the imagined art critic reviews of her work hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, maybe in 2100. They are by the talented and are just perfect.
Here’s the illustration of Mum followed by the imagined commentary in 2100 by a stuffy English art critic named E.P. Buckle. She’s imaginative in every aspect of her life.
� 'Mum in the Jumper That Covers Her Scars, Walking Silently by the Brisbane River'
February 2023 - Pen and ink on paper
A revealing and tender reflection on the most significant day in the artist’s highly complex youth. The artist was two months away from celebrating her eighteenth birthday and experimenting, evidently, with anthropomorphic representations of the ones she loved the most.�
The scars are from “dancing the Tyrannosaurus Waltz� with violent men, a dance that often begins with alcohol and drugs and forces many women and children survivors onto the streets.
The girl has been protected by Mum, loves the library and spends a lot of time in the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art Bookshop, reading all of their art books. She’s acquired a unique perspective on art and artists.
Her mother is also a teacher, so her general knowledge is a lot better than you might expect.
“Mum says walking into a classroom as a relief teacher is like entering a cave of bears in a suit made of salmon skin.�
The Lola of the story is a woman the girl sees in an old, cracked Temple and Webster mirror she picked up from a kerbside collection. She’s almost 18 and has outgrown using the side mirrors on the 1987 Toyota Hi-Ace they live in.
She’s looking for the monster in herself. Instead, seeing her legs in the half below the crack, she sees a woman in a red dress in the top half, standing in a New York street and taking a drag on a cigarette. She desperately wants to see the woman’s face � but no luck. The next day, she sees her in France, below the Eiffel Tower.
“Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what’s my future? What’s my past? � Mirror, mirror, please don’t lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me, who am I?�
Mum has changed their names so many times that the girl says it’s tricky if they happen to meet someone from their travelling past, because she doesn’t always remember what name she was known by in Alice Springs, or wherever. I can imagine dealing with this at 17, but how on earth would Mum have protected her as a little girl?
“My mum never warns me about boys in cars. My mum only warns me about child protection officers in cars.�
There are many characters. It’s crowded out there. There are loyal street comrades and there’s Flo and her fish and chip ‘business� where Mum works, dealing drugs. Flo is kind to the girl, but her son is another monster. There are alcoholics and drug addicts, and some have formed their own sort of family groups.
Her language and thinking move between what she uses for day-to-day relationships and what she has read and learned. She’s certainly not your average 17-year-old street kid. There are long passages printed in italics, the life of 'the artist' as if told in the future.
She desperately wants to know who she is and what her real name is, and that quest is an interesting part of the story. Her conversations with her imagined woman in the red dress, whom she dubs “Lola�, and her real life interactions with best mate Charlie, drug-dealing Flo, and others kept me interested.
She is quick-witted and fleet-footed, and it’s a good thing she is. There are several absolutely hair-raising chase scenes near the end of the book where I was terrified for her. Her ‘people� are living a life that is far removed from my own, and I’m ashamed to be part of a society that lets this happen.
Dalton doesn’t sugarcoat her reality. He knows these people, has talked to them, cares about them. I liked the artist’s comment near the end.
“I take Adelaide Street, where I pass the portable writing desk of a man in a brown hat who spends his days recording the real-life love stories of Brisbane strangers on an old sky-blue Olivetti typewriter. I want to stop and tell him my story, but it isn’t finished yet.�
That man would be author Trent Dalton, appearing like Hitchcock as a cameo in his own work, collecting material for his (which I haven’t read yet) and which led to this book. Listening to Dalton talk about his work and his people, you immediately understand how much they mean to him. The following is from one interview on the ABC.
Talking about the artwork that accompanies the story, he says “I’ve always admired everyone who can scribble their reality.�
About the girl and people who survive and succeed by using what skills they have, he says:
“I think I’ll be writing about for as long as I live, this idea that there are things inside of us that can take us out of our present situation. And taking whatever thing you are half good at and making the absolute most of that to drag you out of the situation you’re in.�
I’m glad he gave this girl the passion and skills to help herself and got Paul Heppell to do the illustrations. I loved the book, her mirror-mirror talks, and her story.
Thanks to #NetGalley and HarperCollins Australia for the copy for review of #LolaintheMirror
December 3, 2023
This is the much-hyped new novel from Trent Dalton. It focuses on a 17-year-old girl without a name and her mother on the run from the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They're living in a van with four flat tyres parked in a West End scrapyard -- homeless or "houseless" as they prefer to be called.
The book begins well � I liked the notion of the Tyrannosaurus waltz � the dance of mothers and their monsters (abusive partners). But nothing much was made of this and the theme of domestic violence wasn’t developed or explored.
Being on the run, the girl has no name but dreams of becoming an artist. I liked that the main character was spurred by hope and dreams of a better life, but so much of this story was trivial or just unbelievable.
For a start, the account is too hokey and parochial -- aggressively Brisbane. Deliberately referencing Brisbane locations which make no contribution to the story. Self-indulgent by the author, are Brisbane readers supposed to say, Wow, I know where that Starbucks is?! And referring to Oxley train station, he has to add that it’s 8 stops from Central (or whatever . . .) Who cares?
While the author appears to confront the homelessness crisis, my main gripe with the book is that he sentimentalises and trivialises homelessness, which I think would be awful, not the cozy cute community portrayed here. e.g. When a couple manages to get into social housing, the others offer help, including someone who says, I’ll give you my Netflix password. What?! Houseless people have Netflix subscription?!
A proliferation of minor characters are not developed and extraneous to the plot � just seem to be padding and I found made the story drag. And a really schmaltzy ending!
I don’t think I should read any more Trent Dalton as I just don’t like his writing style.
The book begins well � I liked the notion of the Tyrannosaurus waltz � the dance of mothers and their monsters (abusive partners). But nothing much was made of this and the theme of domestic violence wasn’t developed or explored.
Being on the run, the girl has no name but dreams of becoming an artist. I liked that the main character was spurred by hope and dreams of a better life, but so much of this story was trivial or just unbelievable.
For a start, the account is too hokey and parochial -- aggressively Brisbane. Deliberately referencing Brisbane locations which make no contribution to the story. Self-indulgent by the author, are Brisbane readers supposed to say, Wow, I know where that Starbucks is?! And referring to Oxley train station, he has to add that it’s 8 stops from Central (or whatever . . .) Who cares?
While the author appears to confront the homelessness crisis, my main gripe with the book is that he sentimentalises and trivialises homelessness, which I think would be awful, not the cozy cute community portrayed here. e.g. When a couple manages to get into social housing, the others offer help, including someone who says, I’ll give you my Netflix password. What?! Houseless people have Netflix subscription?!
A proliferation of minor characters are not developed and extraneous to the plot � just seem to be padding and I found made the story drag. And a really schmaltzy ending!
I don’t think I should read any more Trent Dalton as I just don’t like his writing style.
September 13, 2023
The Adventures of Homeless Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
December 30, 2024
a pleasant surprise that I’m still not sure how I feel about. my 100th book of the year!
this book was good. an interesting enough story that kept me mostly engaged. a lot of great messaging in this book and a really beautiful but terrifyingly ugly story. There were some really cool moments in this book and I felt a lot of emotions while reading. Mostly shock or sadness. This book isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s gruelling and real and raw at times and explores a lot of character development and intricate storyline’s involving multiple characters.
I LOVE the way this book is set out, it took a hot second to understand the chapter sequence and the pictures at the start of every chapter. It’s a bit confusing at first, but once the story falls into place I think it’s a really smart way to drive the story along. Especially towards the end when we realise what the book really is/is conveying.
Unfortunately I think this will be the last Trent Dalton book I read, I just can’t seem to connect to his writing style. I find the overtly Australian references really tacky and jarring. I don’t love the super specific niche references and it takes me out of the moment - a me problem, but still.
I’m glad I read this but it’s not a must read. I recommend if you’re a TD fan, or you just like Australian fiction. I wouldn’t recommend to a novice reader, I feel like if I read this towards the start of my reading journey it would have been too much to digest. But an advanced or seasoned reader would be fine with this. Sometimes you just want a book that switches your brain off and you don’t have to think too hard about it� this book is not that vibe.
4 stars, but only just.
this book was good. an interesting enough story that kept me mostly engaged. a lot of great messaging in this book and a really beautiful but terrifyingly ugly story. There were some really cool moments in this book and I felt a lot of emotions while reading. Mostly shock or sadness. This book isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s gruelling and real and raw at times and explores a lot of character development and intricate storyline’s involving multiple characters.
I LOVE the way this book is set out, it took a hot second to understand the chapter sequence and the pictures at the start of every chapter. It’s a bit confusing at first, but once the story falls into place I think it’s a really smart way to drive the story along. Especially towards the end when we realise what the book really is/is conveying.
Unfortunately I think this will be the last Trent Dalton book I read, I just can’t seem to connect to his writing style. I find the overtly Australian references really tacky and jarring. I don’t love the super specific niche references and it takes me out of the moment - a me problem, but still.
I’m glad I read this but it’s not a must read. I recommend if you’re a TD fan, or you just like Australian fiction. I wouldn’t recommend to a novice reader, I feel like if I read this towards the start of my reading journey it would have been too much to digest. But an advanced or seasoned reader would be fine with this. Sometimes you just want a book that switches your brain off and you don’t have to think too hard about it� this book is not that vibe.
4 stars, but only just.
October 9, 2023
If you haven't closed the last page on a Trent Dalton novel and weeped with equal parts love, hope and despair for humanity, what are you doing with your life?
Dalton has some superhero talent for taking both the best and worst parts of what makes us human and writing about it with such empathy and open heartedness, that I always feel like a slightly altered person after reading his books.
Lola in the Mirror is no exception. Set around the Brisbane river, the novel connects us with the types of people many of us are afraid of acknowledging and seeing - the homeless (or houseless). Our doorway in to this world is a nameless 17 year old girl who has been on the run with her mother since forever. They live in a makeshift community of houseless people living out of some old broken down cars, all trying just to get by. There are people there who have found themselves homeless for a whole myriad of reasons, mental health, substance abuse, just crappy life circumstances. The housing crisis in QLD is practically a character itself here.
From there, it's a heart-full journey of love, hope, and identity, without shying away at all from the ugliness that living a vulnerable and unstable life can mean.
The 'artist' as we'll call her, is a well developed, likeable character that you can't help wishing the best for, as we did with Eli Bell. She's traumatised by her upbringing and life but still open to hope, narrating her own life from afar and living 'big' just in case her dreams come true and she really does become a globally recognised artist. At points she refers to herself in the third person, narrating her life like its part of a gallery show in the future. She's tough but affable and even without a name for most of the book, she's still wholly knowable. Her art is included in the novel and really ads dimension to the character and the story (drawings are by Paul Heppell and boy did he do a great job).
If most reviews of Lola are kinda vague though, it's because it's just the kind of book that evades genre classifications and easy descriptions. So much happens, that I really just want to say - read it for yourself. The novel moves between depictions of disturbing violence and trauma, to moments of beauty, to quieter moments of found family and vulnerability. It's quite a ride.
Trent's novels aren't for everyone. His writing is pretty stylised and recognisable, and you have to come into his novels accepting a bit of magical realism and some exaggeration of life itself. Either you see through to the heart of the novel and get it, or it's just not your jam. And what is at the heart of this novel? Underneath every Dalton novel is the belief that most human beings are decent, given the chance. It's the same thread of hope I loved in Boy Swallows Universe, and it's the same here - that good people can do crappy things, that some people are just full of darkness, but most of the time, humans will choose kindness.
Lola in the Mirror is absorbing, beautiful and worth all the five stars I'm giving it.
Dalton has some superhero talent for taking both the best and worst parts of what makes us human and writing about it with such empathy and open heartedness, that I always feel like a slightly altered person after reading his books.
Lola in the Mirror is no exception. Set around the Brisbane river, the novel connects us with the types of people many of us are afraid of acknowledging and seeing - the homeless (or houseless). Our doorway in to this world is a nameless 17 year old girl who has been on the run with her mother since forever. They live in a makeshift community of houseless people living out of some old broken down cars, all trying just to get by. There are people there who have found themselves homeless for a whole myriad of reasons, mental health, substance abuse, just crappy life circumstances. The housing crisis in QLD is practically a character itself here.
From there, it's a heart-full journey of love, hope, and identity, without shying away at all from the ugliness that living a vulnerable and unstable life can mean.
The 'artist' as we'll call her, is a well developed, likeable character that you can't help wishing the best for, as we did with Eli Bell. She's traumatised by her upbringing and life but still open to hope, narrating her own life from afar and living 'big' just in case her dreams come true and she really does become a globally recognised artist. At points she refers to herself in the third person, narrating her life like its part of a gallery show in the future. She's tough but affable and even without a name for most of the book, she's still wholly knowable. Her art is included in the novel and really ads dimension to the character and the story (drawings are by Paul Heppell and boy did he do a great job).
If most reviews of Lola are kinda vague though, it's because it's just the kind of book that evades genre classifications and easy descriptions. So much happens, that I really just want to say - read it for yourself. The novel moves between depictions of disturbing violence and trauma, to moments of beauty, to quieter moments of found family and vulnerability. It's quite a ride.
Trent's novels aren't for everyone. His writing is pretty stylised and recognisable, and you have to come into his novels accepting a bit of magical realism and some exaggeration of life itself. Either you see through to the heart of the novel and get it, or it's just not your jam. And what is at the heart of this novel? Underneath every Dalton novel is the belief that most human beings are decent, given the chance. It's the same thread of hope I loved in Boy Swallows Universe, and it's the same here - that good people can do crappy things, that some people are just full of darkness, but most of the time, humans will choose kindness.
Lola in the Mirror is absorbing, beautiful and worth all the five stars I'm giving it.
October 4, 2023
⭐️5 Stars⭐️
by is a phenomenal read, from the first page I thought wow! The story is told so beautifully, it’s creative, dark, mysterious and magical and I devoured it appreciating every sentence.
Set in Brisbane Australia a seventeen year old girl and her mother have been on the run for almost sixteen years. They’re running from the police and the murdered monster with a knife in his throat.
Sleeping rough in an old stationary Toyota Van that sits in a scrapyard next to the swollen Brisbane River, the girl (with no name) dreams of becoming an artist, a famous artist and leaving the underworld drug queen Flora Box.
The story captures the current blunt reality of homelessness, violence, a dangerous underworld and surviving each day. It also brings to the reader the protagonists journey of heartbreak, friendships, love, hope, mystery, a magical mirror and so much more.
The characters in the book are intriguing and well thought out and the Brisbane River felt like a character to me also. The illustrations by @pheppell throughout the book are an integral addition to the story, I loved the concept.
Lola In The Mirror is a brilliant book that’s addictive and is sure to bring a mountain of praise. This could just be my most favourite book this year!
Publication Date 04 October 2023
Publisher Imprint 4th Estate
A huge thank you to Harper Collins Australia and Benson Publicity for an early copy of the book to read and review.
by is a phenomenal read, from the first page I thought wow! The story is told so beautifully, it’s creative, dark, mysterious and magical and I devoured it appreciating every sentence.
Set in Brisbane Australia a seventeen year old girl and her mother have been on the run for almost sixteen years. They’re running from the police and the murdered monster with a knife in his throat.
Sleeping rough in an old stationary Toyota Van that sits in a scrapyard next to the swollen Brisbane River, the girl (with no name) dreams of becoming an artist, a famous artist and leaving the underworld drug queen Flora Box.
The story captures the current blunt reality of homelessness, violence, a dangerous underworld and surviving each day. It also brings to the reader the protagonists journey of heartbreak, friendships, love, hope, mystery, a magical mirror and so much more.
The characters in the book are intriguing and well thought out and the Brisbane River felt like a character to me also. The illustrations by @pheppell throughout the book are an integral addition to the story, I loved the concept.
Lola In The Mirror is a brilliant book that’s addictive and is sure to bring a mountain of praise. This could just be my most favourite book this year!
Publication Date 04 October 2023
Publisher Imprint 4th Estate
A huge thank you to Harper Collins Australia and Benson Publicity for an early copy of the book to read and review.
May 10, 2024
***Winner!!! ABIA 2024 Literary Fiction Book of The Year***
***Shortlisted for the ABIA 2024 Literary Fiction Award***
”Mistakes are meant to be made, I tell myself. Mistakes are meant to be.�
I’ve said recently in another book review that life is a series of events that may or may not be interconnected. And I really feel that so much with this story, as regardless of how you may think you are in control of your destiny, oftentimes destiny will have other things in mind.
This is the story of a lass with no name who lives in a car with her Mum along the banks of the Brisbane River in a community of other folk who are also ”houseless but not homeless." And if you think about it, there is quite a distinction between the two. She is a budding Artist who draws the world and life around her in clear black ink line drawings, in a sketchbook that she carries with her everywhere. Her specialty is giving anthropomorphic traits to the people in her sketches, which most aptly display their inner character.
For those not familiar with the term, “Anthropomorphism� is where human traits and emotions are attributed to animals or other non-human beings or objects. Or in the case of our young Artist, placing the head of a raging Tyrannosaurus Rex on the body of a man threatening a young girl in a sketch. Or a pack of shirtless youth with salivating jackal heads. Or the strength and protection of a bear. You get the picture.
Her dream is to one day have her Art displayed at the Met in New York. But she has to get there first. And to also learn who she is, as she’s been on the run all her life with her Mum to escape from an unimaginable past and has had more names than most of us have had hot dinners.
" It's so good to alive. I'm so fucking lucky to be here. What a glorious mistake I am.�
There’s an incredulity to Trent Dalton’s writing that gets me every time. Some of the situations in his books are so jaw dropping and over the top that you’ll be shaking your head in disbelief.
But it works. Because when you think about it, the crazy situations aren’t that crazy after all. As one person’s reality is another’s person’s fantasy, and many realities are something that most of us are simply unable to imagine or fathom. But someone is living that life.
This book had me tearing up from the first pages. I teared up on the work commute. I cried tears on the ferry home last night when I finished the last chapter, with the sun slowly setting over Sydney harbour. Which was quite apt as so much of this book is set along the water, albeit in Brisbane. Water has such an important role in this story. Both as a raging behemoth that can take lives, and as the refreshing cleansing of rain falling across your face.
It’s quite uncanny how the book ends in March 2024. I couldn’t have timed the reading of it better if I tried. And I loved the scene towards the end of the book where our young heroine sees the author of this book sitting on a street corner at a portable desk, wearing a brown hat "who spends his days recording the real life love stories of Brisbane strangers on an old sky-blue Olivetti typewriter. I want to stop and tell him my story, but it isn't finished yet." Which is of course Trent Dalton collecting the stories for his beautiful book Love Stories. It's such a clever and nice touch.
Despite you needing tissues for this, and yes, you will need them, there is so much hope in it. And beauty. Oh yes, lots of beauty. For how else can you appreciate it without having first suffered some sadness?
I don’t know how he does it, but Trent Dalton is an absolute bl**dy legend. If there was an “immortal� award for Writers like there is in footy (rugby league), then he should be made an Immortal. Of letters. For creating stories that will break your heart. And glue it together again.
Truly, I hope this wins every single book award going. Every indie award, every industry award, every independent book award. It deserves all the kudos it gets and more. Most importantly of all, I know there are so many emotional readers like myself out there who will carry so many pieces of this amazing story in their hearts.
Just read this. Now. Whatever you are reading, put it down and read this first. You won’t regret it. I cannot rave about this book enough.
WORDS: Trent Dalton
ILLUSTRATIONS: Paul Heppell
And a huge shout out to the Illustrator Paul Heppell who magnificently did the drawings. A sketch for each chapter from the notebook of our budding Artist as we journey with her in discovering who she is. It’s just the cherry on top. He also has an Instagram page, so check out his work!
✩✩✩✩� All the stars ✩✩✩✩�
✩✩✩✩� In all the galaxies ✩✩✩✩�
”Who am I? I am love. I am forgiveness. I am memory. I am misfortune. I am pain. I am art. I am friendship. I am family. I am sorrow. I am hate. I am rage. I am beauty. I am wonder. I am ink. I am blood. I am learning. I am longing. I am action. I am courage. I am laughter. I am joy. I am gratitude. I am fire. I am water. I am dirt. I am past. I am future. I am fate. I am taken. I am lost. I am returned. I am found. I am heard. I am seen. I am home. I am here.
‘I’m Lola,� I say. “Lola Inthemirror.� �
Postscript 10.May.2024
Last night, Lola In The Mirror won the
ABIA 2024 Literary Fiction Book of The Year. To say I'm excited is an understatement. I'm bloody excited! So thrilled that Trent Dalton won. It's absolutely deserved ✨️ Me happy.
***Shortlisted for the ABIA 2024 Literary Fiction Award***
”Mistakes are meant to be made, I tell myself. Mistakes are meant to be.�
I’ve said recently in another book review that life is a series of events that may or may not be interconnected. And I really feel that so much with this story, as regardless of how you may think you are in control of your destiny, oftentimes destiny will have other things in mind.
This is the story of a lass with no name who lives in a car with her Mum along the banks of the Brisbane River in a community of other folk who are also ”houseless but not homeless." And if you think about it, there is quite a distinction between the two. She is a budding Artist who draws the world and life around her in clear black ink line drawings, in a sketchbook that she carries with her everywhere. Her specialty is giving anthropomorphic traits to the people in her sketches, which most aptly display their inner character.
For those not familiar with the term, “Anthropomorphism� is where human traits and emotions are attributed to animals or other non-human beings or objects. Or in the case of our young Artist, placing the head of a raging Tyrannosaurus Rex on the body of a man threatening a young girl in a sketch. Or a pack of shirtless youth with salivating jackal heads. Or the strength and protection of a bear. You get the picture.
Her dream is to one day have her Art displayed at the Met in New York. But she has to get there first. And to also learn who she is, as she’s been on the run all her life with her Mum to escape from an unimaginable past and has had more names than most of us have had hot dinners.
" It's so good to alive. I'm so fucking lucky to be here. What a glorious mistake I am.�
There’s an incredulity to Trent Dalton’s writing that gets me every time. Some of the situations in his books are so jaw dropping and over the top that you’ll be shaking your head in disbelief.
But it works. Because when you think about it, the crazy situations aren’t that crazy after all. As one person’s reality is another’s person’s fantasy, and many realities are something that most of us are simply unable to imagine or fathom. But someone is living that life.
This book had me tearing up from the first pages. I teared up on the work commute. I cried tears on the ferry home last night when I finished the last chapter, with the sun slowly setting over Sydney harbour. Which was quite apt as so much of this book is set along the water, albeit in Brisbane. Water has such an important role in this story. Both as a raging behemoth that can take lives, and as the refreshing cleansing of rain falling across your face.
It’s quite uncanny how the book ends in March 2024. I couldn’t have timed the reading of it better if I tried. And I loved the scene towards the end of the book where our young heroine sees the author of this book sitting on a street corner at a portable desk, wearing a brown hat "who spends his days recording the real life love stories of Brisbane strangers on an old sky-blue Olivetti typewriter. I want to stop and tell him my story, but it isn't finished yet." Which is of course Trent Dalton collecting the stories for his beautiful book Love Stories. It's such a clever and nice touch.
Despite you needing tissues for this, and yes, you will need them, there is so much hope in it. And beauty. Oh yes, lots of beauty. For how else can you appreciate it without having first suffered some sadness?
I don’t know how he does it, but Trent Dalton is an absolute bl**dy legend. If there was an “immortal� award for Writers like there is in footy (rugby league), then he should be made an Immortal. Of letters. For creating stories that will break your heart. And glue it together again.
Truly, I hope this wins every single book award going. Every indie award, every industry award, every independent book award. It deserves all the kudos it gets and more. Most importantly of all, I know there are so many emotional readers like myself out there who will carry so many pieces of this amazing story in their hearts.
Just read this. Now. Whatever you are reading, put it down and read this first. You won’t regret it. I cannot rave about this book enough.
WORDS: Trent Dalton
ILLUSTRATIONS: Paul Heppell
And a huge shout out to the Illustrator Paul Heppell who magnificently did the drawings. A sketch for each chapter from the notebook of our budding Artist as we journey with her in discovering who she is. It’s just the cherry on top. He also has an Instagram page, so check out his work!
✩✩✩✩� All the stars ✩✩✩✩�
✩✩✩✩� In all the galaxies ✩✩✩✩�
”Who am I? I am love. I am forgiveness. I am memory. I am misfortune. I am pain. I am art. I am friendship. I am family. I am sorrow. I am hate. I am rage. I am beauty. I am wonder. I am ink. I am blood. I am learning. I am longing. I am action. I am courage. I am laughter. I am joy. I am gratitude. I am fire. I am water. I am dirt. I am past. I am future. I am fate. I am taken. I am lost. I am returned. I am found. I am heard. I am seen. I am home. I am here.
‘I’m Lola,� I say. “Lola Inthemirror.� �
Postscript 10.May.2024
Last night, Lola In The Mirror won the
ABIA 2024 Literary Fiction Book of The Year. To say I'm excited is an understatement. I'm bloody excited! So thrilled that Trent Dalton won. It's absolutely deserved ✨️ Me happy.
Shelved as 'oh-well-i-tried'
November 17, 2023I loved so I’m surprised that I find this one incredibly overwritten. I got about a fifth of the way through and I was rolling my eyes and wanting the author to just get on with the story. Once I started skimming I decided to put it down.
October 28, 2023
3.5 stars. I dragged myself through the first 300 pages and then the last 190 odd pages went by fairly fluidly.
I’ve loved Trent Daltons work before but this one weighed me down with too much inconsequential description. I found it felt too much like a YA book. Would love a more adult book from Dalton next as there are parts of this book that I loved.
It did feel cliched and overly saccharine & stereotyped at times but as a light read I’d recommend it.
I’ve loved Trent Daltons work before but this one weighed me down with too much inconsequential description. I found it felt too much like a YA book. Would love a more adult book from Dalton next as there are parts of this book that I loved.
It did feel cliched and overly saccharine & stereotyped at times but as a light read I’d recommend it.
May 16, 2024
From the author of Boy Swallows Universe.
That mirror of yours might be the most trustworthy thing in your life.
What if you’ve been on the run since you were six months old? What if your mom might have acted like a monster, but you can’t imagine her being one? What if you don’t have a name because telling people might give you and your mom away? What if that mirror of yours is indeed the most trustworthy thing in your life?
Mirror, mirror, please don’t lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me, who am I?
So, what if you don’t have a clue who you are, where you come from? What if you’re just this seventeen-year-old girl who has lived in cars and vans her whole life? Not homeless as she says herself, but houseless. What if your mom wants to turn herself in when you become eighteen so you can finally start living?
This is the story of an art lover and talented artist. Her story filled an ugly past but also with dreams about who she eventually wants to be.
While reading, Eli’s voice (the MC of Boy Swallows Universe) constantly rang in my head. It was like he (the actor who played Eli in the Netflix series) was this girl, this person, the MC in this book. Somehow, they felt very connected. When I read the acknowledgments, I smiled because an illustration of Eli and Slim on Instagram made Paul Heppell come into the orbit of Trent Dalton, who eventually asked Paul to do some illustrations for Lola in the Mirror. And those illustrations reminded me of Gus� drawings in Boy Swallows Universe. And so the circle is round again.
It took me some time to get into this story, but when I eventually did, I got hooked. I laughed out loud when our MC sat at the police station with policeman Geoff and swallowed a lump simultaneously. My mom’s heart was crying so many times, especially about eighteen/nineteen-year-old alcoholic Charlie. Sweet, sweet Charlie. Like our MC says:
Charlie ain’t no prince. He’s just one of those lovable scoundrels with a hidden heart of gold.
That last part was just beautiful and heartbreaking. If you loved reading Boy Swallows Universe, read this one. If you loved the TV series Boy Swallows Universe, read this one. If you’re up for heartbreak and tragedy and plot twists but also for hope and power, read this one.
Thank you so much, Harper Perennial and NetGalley, for letting me read this beautiful and intriguing story!
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That mirror of yours might be the most trustworthy thing in your life.
What if you’ve been on the run since you were six months old? What if your mom might have acted like a monster, but you can’t imagine her being one? What if you don’t have a name because telling people might give you and your mom away? What if that mirror of yours is indeed the most trustworthy thing in your life?
Mirror, mirror, please don’t lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me, who am I?
So, what if you don’t have a clue who you are, where you come from? What if you’re just this seventeen-year-old girl who has lived in cars and vans her whole life? Not homeless as she says herself, but houseless. What if your mom wants to turn herself in when you become eighteen so you can finally start living?
This is the story of an art lover and talented artist. Her story filled an ugly past but also with dreams about who she eventually wants to be.
While reading, Eli’s voice (the MC of Boy Swallows Universe) constantly rang in my head. It was like he (the actor who played Eli in the Netflix series) was this girl, this person, the MC in this book. Somehow, they felt very connected. When I read the acknowledgments, I smiled because an illustration of Eli and Slim on Instagram made Paul Heppell come into the orbit of Trent Dalton, who eventually asked Paul to do some illustrations for Lola in the Mirror. And those illustrations reminded me of Gus� drawings in Boy Swallows Universe. And so the circle is round again.
It took me some time to get into this story, but when I eventually did, I got hooked. I laughed out loud when our MC sat at the police station with policeman Geoff and swallowed a lump simultaneously. My mom’s heart was crying so many times, especially about eighteen/nineteen-year-old alcoholic Charlie. Sweet, sweet Charlie. Like our MC says:
Charlie ain’t no prince. He’s just one of those lovable scoundrels with a hidden heart of gold.
That last part was just beautiful and heartbreaking. If you loved reading Boy Swallows Universe, read this one. If you loved the TV series Boy Swallows Universe, read this one. If you’re up for heartbreak and tragedy and plot twists but also for hope and power, read this one.
Thank you so much, Harper Perennial and NetGalley, for letting me read this beautiful and intriguing story!
Follow me on
September 9, 2023
This is my book of the year. 100% nothing can surpass. I want to say so much about this read but I want every human to experience the incredible story of Lola, the beautiful, whimsical writing of Trent Dalton and the emotional journey of the characters.
As a born and bred Brisbanite I feel incredibly nostalgic reading about my city. It brings up memories of my teenage years and I can pinpoint the exact locations of Lola, where she slept every night, walked everyday, and created her own memories. It didn’t take long for this book to take over my emotions and yes I was a blubbering mess in parts. I cried sad tears and happy tears, the impact on me has been huge.
Trent has an absolute way with words, how he can create such a vivid journey, is incredible. I drive past areas in the story and think of Lola. Think about her character and how many Lola’s there are in this city, this world.
This is a must read - It’s by far one of my favorite books of all time and I will never stop telling people about Lola; Lola in the Mirror.
May 31, 2024
Lola In the Mirror is, by far, the best crime novel I have read this year and, probably, last year too. Trent Dalton has delivered a heartfelt tribute to the largely forgotten part of the population who call the streets of big cities home.
This is a delightfully moving story set on the streets of Brisbane among the city’s homeless and houseless. We meet a mother and daughter who have fled the violent family home after the mother took a knife to her husband, defending both herself and her daughter from a violent man. Ever since they’ve been on the move to avoid the police, using assumed names and living on the streets or in makeshift accommodation.
These days they’ve found themselves a decrepit car in a junkyard that serves as the roof over their heads. It’s as much a home as the more traditional, permanent houses that those not on the run live in and the girl is happy and hopeful with big plans for the future.
But life’s tough when living rough and not everything goes to plan. The girl finds herself working as a drug mule on Brisbane’s streets, working for Lady Flo, the woman with the underworld crime connections who owns the local seafood store that stands as a front for a blooming drug den. Not only does she have to deal drugs for this dangerous woman but she also has to work with her repulsive son, Brandon, a violent young man who loves nothing more than making the girl’s life miserable.
She believes passionately that she will one day become a famous artist. She likes to imagine each moment of her life will be recounted by an art historian in 100 years time. He will be standing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art where her works are being shown discussing her amazing life.
She’s the type of person who would rather cartwheel down the road rather than walk. Her artistic eye enables her to see the beauty in the world around her while also interpreting the ugly in the most perceptive way. And she speaks to Lola in the mirror she discovered in the scrapyard where she lives, searching for all of the answers to the most difficult questions in her life. Most of all, she would like to know her real name.
Told with flair and passion, the danger and cruelty that is ever present on the banks of Brisbane’s “brown snake� is offset by the hope and optimism of the girl, her best friend Charlie and the other locals doing their best to survive. All of the characters are given an authentic voice, each wrought with great depth to help bring this story to life. Most importantly, many of these characters are the invisible homeless who are largely ignored by the majority, so it was tremendous to see them humanised in such a heartfelt way.
Lola In the Mirror is beautifully descriptive, filled with the most superbly described moments of introspection, filled with hope for the future. I enjoyed every moment of it.
This is a delightfully moving story set on the streets of Brisbane among the city’s homeless and houseless. We meet a mother and daughter who have fled the violent family home after the mother took a knife to her husband, defending both herself and her daughter from a violent man. Ever since they’ve been on the move to avoid the police, using assumed names and living on the streets or in makeshift accommodation.
These days they’ve found themselves a decrepit car in a junkyard that serves as the roof over their heads. It’s as much a home as the more traditional, permanent houses that those not on the run live in and the girl is happy and hopeful with big plans for the future.
But life’s tough when living rough and not everything goes to plan. The girl finds herself working as a drug mule on Brisbane’s streets, working for Lady Flo, the woman with the underworld crime connections who owns the local seafood store that stands as a front for a blooming drug den. Not only does she have to deal drugs for this dangerous woman but she also has to work with her repulsive son, Brandon, a violent young man who loves nothing more than making the girl’s life miserable.
She believes passionately that she will one day become a famous artist. She likes to imagine each moment of her life will be recounted by an art historian in 100 years time. He will be standing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art where her works are being shown discussing her amazing life.
She’s the type of person who would rather cartwheel down the road rather than walk. Her artistic eye enables her to see the beauty in the world around her while also interpreting the ugly in the most perceptive way. And she speaks to Lola in the mirror she discovered in the scrapyard where she lives, searching for all of the answers to the most difficult questions in her life. Most of all, she would like to know her real name.
Told with flair and passion, the danger and cruelty that is ever present on the banks of Brisbane’s “brown snake� is offset by the hope and optimism of the girl, her best friend Charlie and the other locals doing their best to survive. All of the characters are given an authentic voice, each wrought with great depth to help bring this story to life. Most importantly, many of these characters are the invisible homeless who are largely ignored by the majority, so it was tremendous to see them humanised in such a heartfelt way.
Lola In the Mirror is beautifully descriptive, filled with the most superbly described moments of introspection, filled with hope for the future. I enjoyed every moment of it.
June 5, 2024
This is the story of a girl who has been living a lie all of her life, and she doesn’t even know it - yet. She is promised that she will know everything when the time is right, but then, in an act meant to protect someone else, this mother who has raised her, disappears from her life. From life. Along with the secret she kept from her. Along with the secret of her name, who she really is.
She’s just a sixteen-year-old girl, living in abandoned cars or vans as long as she can remember, but now she is a sixteen year old girl who is on the edges of living, but doesn’t really have a real life. How can you when you don’t even know who you are, and you don’t even know your name?
This is a story of desire, finding a path to a future to fulfill her dream of becoming a recognized artist, of sharing her stories through her art. Of finding someone who recognizes her, not just as an artist, but someone who believes in her vision, her dreams, her talent, but mostly in her ability to give and believe in love, at last.
Pub Date: 17 Sep 2024
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Harper Perennial and Paperbacks | Harper Perennial
April 23, 2024
I can barely contain how much I disliked this.
The Guardian review ( Oct 2023 ) basically says it all :
piping-hot sentimentality � boils to oblivion any remnants of nuance ... flattens complexity into a slurry of platitudes, his ideas aren’t just merely lazy; when placed under scrutiny, some are misleading ....
Excerpt : " She would never again be homeless because the boys lips were home to her " - thank god for rich boys on bridges and homeless paino players tinkling out Moon River at the most opportune moments.
( P.S I did enjoy Boy Swallows Universe - so I am not a complete hater )
The Guardian review ( Oct 2023 ) basically says it all :
piping-hot sentimentality � boils to oblivion any remnants of nuance ... flattens complexity into a slurry of platitudes, his ideas aren’t just merely lazy; when placed under scrutiny, some are misleading ....
Excerpt : " She would never again be homeless because the boys lips were home to her " - thank god for rich boys on bridges and homeless paino players tinkling out Moon River at the most opportune moments.
( P.S I did enjoy Boy Swallows Universe - so I am not a complete hater )
October 9, 2023
It’s well past midnight and my face is sticky from the tears shed while reading the last 250 pages straight of this masterpiece. Quite possibly the best book I’ve ever read. The nostalgia for Brisbane engulfed me and Dalton’s writing is a true privilege to read. Raw and true friendship and love that makes your heart ache. I wish I could develop amnesia and read the whole book again.
December 30, 2023
I really wanted to like this book but the truth is I struggled to finish it. It is so full of cliches and stereotypes that I was cringing as they appeared, I must be really missing something as I seem to be on my own in my dislike of it. I had to skim read the last 100 pages or so as it was a Hollywood style chase between good guys and villains that went on way too long. The relationship between the girl and Danny was fairytale stuff (one day I’ll waltz with a Prince 🤮)
November 11, 2023
Holy shit, this book took my breath away. A masterpiece. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
February 13, 2024
Wow! This is even better than "Boy Swallows Universe". :-)
August 5, 2023
Brilliant in every way, I can’t wait to see this book hit the shelves in our store and others in October, complete with illustrations (I hope) - it is truly his best work yet and as I have loved all the rest that is an immense task.
It will make you cry and make you laugh and more importantly open your eyes and hearts to lives where nothing but surviving each day is black and white. Bravo Trent. This book will change lives and should be studied in schools.
It will make you cry and make you laugh and more importantly open your eyes and hearts to lives where nothing but surviving each day is black and white. Bravo Trent. This book will change lives and should be studied in schools.
November 2, 2023
My least favourite of his 3 novels. Kudos to Dalton for spotlighting the gritty reality of homelessness and violence against women. However, he lessened the impact of these by adding the surrealism of the romance and the Hollywood action plot featuring caricatural villainous characters. It was too long and too repetitive and the protagonist was not always likeable.
The narration was commendable.
The narration was commendable.
April 21, 2025
4.5ȴ
“It’s a good idea to assume that one day your life will be the subject of an exhaustive retrospective exhibition because it makes you attempt to live every moment with a sense of its own significance.�
Lola In The Mirror is the third novel by award-winning, best-selling Australian journalist and author, Trent Dalton. Two months before her eighteenth birthday in April 2023, the woman the nameless artist protagonist calls mum perishes in the Brisbane River while saving a toddler from drowning. That was two months before the woman she eventually learns was Erica Finlay, had promised to reveal the artist’s real name, something it wasn’t safe for her to know while they were on the run.
They’ve been living in a West End panel beater’s scrapyard on the edge of the Brisbane River in an orange �87 Toyota HiAce van with four flat tyres, the first of a collection of houseless people on whom the kindly owner has taken pity. It’s a little community that looks out for its members, that might be under threat from developers wanting to construct accommodation for the coming Olympics, is wary about a possible serial killer knocking off floaters, but might be under a more imminent threat from flooding rains.
Erica Finlay did leave one clue behind, but after a cursory look, the artist isn’t sure she wants to follow it up: she was on the run with the woman for over seventeen years, the recipient of care and love and wisdom; does she want to destroy that image? Instead, she exists by distributing drugs for a fish shop owner who proves to be dangerous�
Dalton’s protagonist is a gutsy, quirky young woman. As well as being a talented artist, she has an interest in the meaning of given names; she has a mirror that reflects someone who might be a potential future self; she has “a habit of thinking of my life as the subject of a guided tour in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, circa 2100, conducted by a stuffy English art Critic named E.P. (Edward Percival) Buckle, who is describing these early nameless and houseless years of my life to an enraptured group of art lovers� because she felt it “really helped me to stand back and assess with clarity and perspective what has been a deeply unusual and unsettling life on the lam.�
The copious mentions of locations will appeal to Brisbane locals but won’t add anything for those unfamiliar with the city. Paul Heppel’s unique sketches at the start of each chapter often presage what will follow in this story that explores homelessness, domestic violence, police attitudes, hopes and dreams. Some aspects of the story require suspension of disbelief, but there’s plenty to provoke thought and discussion for book groups. Uniquely Dalton.
“It’s a good idea to assume that one day your life will be the subject of an exhaustive retrospective exhibition because it makes you attempt to live every moment with a sense of its own significance.�
Lola In The Mirror is the third novel by award-winning, best-selling Australian journalist and author, Trent Dalton. Two months before her eighteenth birthday in April 2023, the woman the nameless artist protagonist calls mum perishes in the Brisbane River while saving a toddler from drowning. That was two months before the woman she eventually learns was Erica Finlay, had promised to reveal the artist’s real name, something it wasn’t safe for her to know while they were on the run.
They’ve been living in a West End panel beater’s scrapyard on the edge of the Brisbane River in an orange �87 Toyota HiAce van with four flat tyres, the first of a collection of houseless people on whom the kindly owner has taken pity. It’s a little community that looks out for its members, that might be under threat from developers wanting to construct accommodation for the coming Olympics, is wary about a possible serial killer knocking off floaters, but might be under a more imminent threat from flooding rains.
Erica Finlay did leave one clue behind, but after a cursory look, the artist isn’t sure she wants to follow it up: she was on the run with the woman for over seventeen years, the recipient of care and love and wisdom; does she want to destroy that image? Instead, she exists by distributing drugs for a fish shop owner who proves to be dangerous�
Dalton’s protagonist is a gutsy, quirky young woman. As well as being a talented artist, she has an interest in the meaning of given names; she has a mirror that reflects someone who might be a potential future self; she has “a habit of thinking of my life as the subject of a guided tour in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, circa 2100, conducted by a stuffy English art Critic named E.P. (Edward Percival) Buckle, who is describing these early nameless and houseless years of my life to an enraptured group of art lovers� because she felt it “really helped me to stand back and assess with clarity and perspective what has been a deeply unusual and unsettling life on the lam.�
The copious mentions of locations will appeal to Brisbane locals but won’t add anything for those unfamiliar with the city. Paul Heppel’s unique sketches at the start of each chapter often presage what will follow in this story that explores homelessness, domestic violence, police attitudes, hopes and dreams. Some aspects of the story require suspension of disbelief, but there’s plenty to provoke thought and discussion for book groups. Uniquely Dalton.
December 15, 2023
What an author!
From the first sentence the writing captivated my imagination and the girl with no name’s story was one I needed to discover. Dalton took me on a journey of discovery like no other coming-of-age story I’ve ever read. The characters are complex, complicated and beautifully constructed.
I love a setting I know; in this case Brisbane, Australia. The location highlights issues such as homelessness and crime which a pertinent in all cities.
A hard copy of this book is the only way to experience this story. Treat yourself it is a masterpiece.
From the first sentence the writing captivated my imagination and the girl with no name’s story was one I needed to discover. Dalton took me on a journey of discovery like no other coming-of-age story I’ve ever read. The characters are complex, complicated and beautifully constructed.
I love a setting I know; in this case Brisbane, Australia. The location highlights issues such as homelessness and crime which a pertinent in all cities.
A hard copy of this book is the only way to experience this story. Treat yourself it is a masterpiece.
January 13, 2024
This is my first foray into Trent Dalton’s world, and as much as I did enjoy his writing style I did come across some things that made it difficult for me to take it seriously.
I thought it was a great exploration into how less fortunate people live and why perhaps they ended up there. The book definitely didn’t shy away from some of the unpleasant details. There was a lot of sadness, heartache and anger for many different reasons within the homeless community Trent Dalton described and I can definitely see all of these points of view.
The main thing I didn’t gel with was the cliche fairytale elements: Prince Charming falls in love at first sight and sweeps unknown girl off her feet, said girl (who is, of course, a peasant girl) runs away, he then spends the rest of the story searching for her until he does, just upon chance, find her and once again sweeps her off her feet with a manly and heroic gesture. It was just so unrealistic. I loved the part about him sketching her and her not being as invisible as she thought, but the prince bit�. Taken too far for me.
I also found the very climactic Hollywood action movie conclusion to the drug lord situation very quixotic. I understand that stuff like this can happen, but once again I personally felt like it was taken way too far (that was a lot of deaths in a short period of time and all so different).
The essence of the story I enjoyed, but it could have been edited down into a more moving and realistic version.
I thought it was a great exploration into how less fortunate people live and why perhaps they ended up there. The book definitely didn’t shy away from some of the unpleasant details. There was a lot of sadness, heartache and anger for many different reasons within the homeless community Trent Dalton described and I can definitely see all of these points of view.
The main thing I didn’t gel with was the cliche fairytale elements: Prince Charming falls in love at first sight and sweeps unknown girl off her feet, said girl (who is, of course, a peasant girl) runs away, he then spends the rest of the story searching for her until he does, just upon chance, find her and once again sweeps her off her feet with a manly and heroic gesture. It was just so unrealistic. I loved the part about him sketching her and her not being as invisible as she thought, but the prince bit�. Taken too far for me.
I also found the very climactic Hollywood action movie conclusion to the drug lord situation very quixotic. I understand that stuff like this can happen, but once again I personally felt like it was taken way too far (that was a lot of deaths in a short period of time and all so different).
The essence of the story I enjoyed, but it could have been edited down into a more moving and realistic version.
October 1, 2023
Thank you Harper Collins for sending us a copy to read and review.
An abstract, metaphorical and very clever portrayal of homelessness with characters that are nothing short of brilliant.
A girl with no name is on the run dodging dangerous underworld figures, seeking love and fulfilment and dreams of artistic endeavours.
Living in an abandoned van in a community of extended family of houseless people she navigates life with her strong inclinations.
Unfortunate connections and obligations are needed to survive until the danger becomes too much.
Meeting Danny unleashes emotions and feelings.
A vulnerable and honest version starts to reveal itself.
Life captured in sketches links the journey of discovery.
Set in Brisbane with its familiar landmarks and with intricate detail on life there, it’s social issues and the unpredictable storms it has adds a very local flavour.
A gritty and heartfelt experience that leaves the reader perhaps grateful for what they have and the safety nets that secure our lives.
The author has humanised people that society does not see and the quote that ‘we are houseless not homeless� was so powerful.
Illustrating that family is not defined by blood.
A conceptional and intelligent narrative that will resonate.
An abstract, metaphorical and very clever portrayal of homelessness with characters that are nothing short of brilliant.
A girl with no name is on the run dodging dangerous underworld figures, seeking love and fulfilment and dreams of artistic endeavours.
Living in an abandoned van in a community of extended family of houseless people she navigates life with her strong inclinations.
Unfortunate connections and obligations are needed to survive until the danger becomes too much.
Meeting Danny unleashes emotions and feelings.
A vulnerable and honest version starts to reveal itself.
Life captured in sketches links the journey of discovery.
Set in Brisbane with its familiar landmarks and with intricate detail on life there, it’s social issues and the unpredictable storms it has adds a very local flavour.
A gritty and heartfelt experience that leaves the reader perhaps grateful for what they have and the safety nets that secure our lives.
The author has humanised people that society does not see and the quote that ‘we are houseless not homeless� was so powerful.
Illustrating that family is not defined by blood.
A conceptional and intelligent narrative that will resonate.
November 20, 2023
I wanted to like this book but i just didn’t. The first 300 pages were awfully dry and the last 50 everything happened all at once and it was quite unsatisfying. It felt unrealistic and i cringed every time a pop culture reference was made. I don’t think i’m a massive Dalton fan, am yet to read Boy Swallows Universe, however people have said that Lola is his best yet so that concerns me.
October 21, 2024
Wowza.
Another book that knocked me off my ass because of my completely baseless preconceived notions. I'm not gonna lie- I think most (or all) of those notions came from the cover. It gave me YA contemporary vibes, which really is just NOT my thing.
So why did I read it then, one might ask?
Well. Because so many people have given it 5 stars. I have seen it parading through my feed for years now, and it's almost always someone singing it's praises, plus the blurb actually sounded interesting so at a time when I was looking for a somewhat easy read, I reached for this one.
And while it was an easy read in terms of being a book that hooks you early on and that keeps you turning it's pages, it wasn't easy as in it being a light read. Despite being a book that flowed steadily & easily, there was substantial density here, and in a good way. A very good way.
Things start out at a sprint. Our MC is the almost legal daughter of a wanted woman. On the run, they live in a van and make do by selling illegal products. Our girl doesn't even know her own name, supposedly for her own protection, as they are on the run and have been on the run her whole life because her mother killed her father because he was violent, and abusive, and nearly killed her. Except she managed to fight him off and kill him, taking off with our girl when she was still a toddler, and since then they've been on the lamb. They live among a colorful cast of transient types, all of them thick as thieves, though each with their corresponding problems, and despite being an abnormal life, they don't seem entirely unhappy. There is a bond between them, not just your typical mother daughter love but the fierce love of partners in crime.
Soo much happens, there's a part early on that gave me the feeling. You know that feeling when there's a part in whatever book you're reading that is just so good, like not just good bc it's exciting but everything about it. The writing is flawless, the storytelling is perfection, it's a scene that just leaves you breathless as you read, until at some point the thought darts through your head for a second before quickly turning back to the page...that this book is good. Like really good. Like 5 stars good, maybe loves-of-my-life good, and it just kicks you into another gear, that special reader gear of a booklover that's reading a book that they might just love. It is an absolutely delicious moment, and I had it with this book fairly early on.
This was definitely a plot driven story, but the sort of plot driven story that manages to still develop it's characters enough to give it some real depth. I adored this book, I really did. There was so much here to love about friendship, and what it means to find out who you truly are, a thing that so many of us never truly understand.
This wasn't what I'd call a perfect book, but for me it was 5 stars through and through. My one and only complaint was that there were moments were the dialogue got a lil too cutesy artsy, a lil too John-Green-A-Fault-In-Our-Stars, the sorta talking that sounds pretty enough but just never rings true because nobody has ever heard anybody talk this way in real life. There were a couple of those moments peppered in but not enough to truly damper any part of the reading experience. I loved our girl, I just adored her as a character, she was fragile and a badass all at once, chipped but not broken. The plot propelled us forward at a sprint from the beginning till the very end, but yet still managed to have still moments of such tenderness and heartache. Whereas often the plot driven stories sacrifice depth or quality in exchange for speed & action, or the character driven stories sacrifice quick pacing for depth or a slow moving character study, this book gives the perfect amalgam of both, which is always the very best case scenario.
I LOVED this. All the stars.
Another book that knocked me off my ass because of my completely baseless preconceived notions. I'm not gonna lie- I think most (or all) of those notions came from the cover. It gave me YA contemporary vibes, which really is just NOT my thing.
So why did I read it then, one might ask?
Well. Because so many people have given it 5 stars. I have seen it parading through my feed for years now, and it's almost always someone singing it's praises, plus the blurb actually sounded interesting so at a time when I was looking for a somewhat easy read, I reached for this one.
And while it was an easy read in terms of being a book that hooks you early on and that keeps you turning it's pages, it wasn't easy as in it being a light read. Despite being a book that flowed steadily & easily, there was substantial density here, and in a good way. A very good way.
Things start out at a sprint. Our MC is the almost legal daughter of a wanted woman. On the run, they live in a van and make do by selling illegal products. Our girl doesn't even know her own name, supposedly for her own protection, as they are on the run and have been on the run her whole life because her mother killed her father because he was violent, and abusive, and nearly killed her. Except she managed to fight him off and kill him, taking off with our girl when she was still a toddler, and since then they've been on the lamb. They live among a colorful cast of transient types, all of them thick as thieves, though each with their corresponding problems, and despite being an abnormal life, they don't seem entirely unhappy. There is a bond between them, not just your typical mother daughter love but the fierce love of partners in crime.
Soo much happens, there's a part early on that gave me the feeling. You know that feeling when there's a part in whatever book you're reading that is just so good, like not just good bc it's exciting but everything about it. The writing is flawless, the storytelling is perfection, it's a scene that just leaves you breathless as you read, until at some point the thought darts through your head for a second before quickly turning back to the page...that this book is good. Like really good. Like 5 stars good, maybe loves-of-my-life good, and it just kicks you into another gear, that special reader gear of a booklover that's reading a book that they might just love. It is an absolutely delicious moment, and I had it with this book fairly early on.
This was definitely a plot driven story, but the sort of plot driven story that manages to still develop it's characters enough to give it some real depth. I adored this book, I really did. There was so much here to love about friendship, and what it means to find out who you truly are, a thing that so many of us never truly understand.
This wasn't what I'd call a perfect book, but for me it was 5 stars through and through. My one and only complaint was that there were moments were the dialogue got a lil too cutesy artsy, a lil too John-Green-A-Fault-In-Our-Stars, the sorta talking that sounds pretty enough but just never rings true because nobody has ever heard anybody talk this way in real life. There were a couple of those moments peppered in but not enough to truly damper any part of the reading experience. I loved our girl, I just adored her as a character, she was fragile and a badass all at once, chipped but not broken. The plot propelled us forward at a sprint from the beginning till the very end, but yet still managed to have still moments of such tenderness and heartache. Whereas often the plot driven stories sacrifice depth or quality in exchange for speed & action, or the character driven stories sacrifice quick pacing for depth or a slow moving character study, this book gives the perfect amalgam of both, which is always the very best case scenario.
I LOVED this. All the stars.
April 12, 2024
⭐️ 3.5 - 4 ⭐️
This one took me a while to get into and honestly I was confused AF for the first 20% or so ... like NFI what was going on, who was who, where the story was going, all in all just lost lol.
BUT once things actually started happening and I finally made sense of the unique writing style, I allowed myself to get in to the story and I became totally invested. I loved putting together pieces of the puzzle as I read and found myself listening to the audiobook at any spare chance I had.
I will say the Brisbane this, Brisbane that, Australia niches were kind of annoying and unnecessary but it didn't completely turn me off!
Also no idea why I went into this thinking it was a thriller lmoa, like NOT AT ALL. It's a good story with a little bit of mystery, some romance, a few a-ha moments and a dabble into the life of crime and homelessness. I liked it more than I expected to when reading the beginning, but not a stand out.
This one took me a while to get into and honestly I was confused AF for the first 20% or so ... like NFI what was going on, who was who, where the story was going, all in all just lost lol.
BUT once things actually started happening and I finally made sense of the unique writing style, I allowed myself to get in to the story and I became totally invested. I loved putting together pieces of the puzzle as I read and found myself listening to the audiobook at any spare chance I had.
I will say the Brisbane this, Brisbane that, Australia niches were kind of annoying and unnecessary but it didn't completely turn me off!
Also no idea why I went into this thinking it was a thriller lmoa, like NOT AT ALL. It's a good story with a little bit of mystery, some romance, a few a-ha moments and a dabble into the life of crime and homelessness. I liked it more than I expected to when reading the beginning, but not a stand out.
November 9, 2023
For me, the most important thing is to connect with the book, whether it be the characters, the scenery or the writing style. With this book I connected with all 3. It was fantastic. This was a mixed bag it has love, crime, and a search for identity and homelessness. Being a ex Queenslander who moved to NSW , you mentioned so many places I know of , even the ones in NSW. I felt like I was there. Thank you for writing such a brilliant book.
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