<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/167582092-lola-in-the-mirror" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Lola in the Mirror</em></a>, Trent Dalton's latest urban fairy tale is about an unnamed girl -  or more accurately, a girl who does not know her own name. She lives with her mother in a rusty, abandoned car in Brisbane. They are not homeless, they are 'house-less', and they make their way each day with time spent in the library, at a drop-in centre, and at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art Bookshop, where the girl absorbs herself in books about artists.<!--more-->

The girl and her mother were on the run for many years, having escaped <em>'...dancing the Tyrannosaurus Waltz' (</em>a metaphor for domestic violence), but they find people they can trust in Brisbane, and settle there. Her mother begins working for Flora Box, whose fish and chip shop is a front for the real business, dealing drugs.

The story unfolds to include the girl's dreams of becoming a famous artist; the significance of a mirror; a terrible accident in the Brisbane River; falling in love; and always, the search for her name. It's a detailed and layered story that concludes with an epic cat-and-mouse chase through the streets of the city (Brisbane is a character unto itself) and all loose ends neatly tied up.

As he did in <a href="https://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.com/2019/08/30/boy-swallows-universe-by-trent-dalton/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Boy Swallows Universe</em></a>, Dalton exposes the 'seamier' side of life but also finds beauty there. There's commentary on the welfare system, the true cost of hosting the <a href="https://greens.org.au/campaigns/housing-2032-games" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2032 Olympic Games</a>, homelessness, and the violence associated with drugs. I had the nagging feeling that some of this story romanticizes homelessness but I'll trust that Dalton's heart is in the right place and instead make mention of the brilliant popular culture references, particularly to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40BtRy4NbIc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">music</a>.

Mention must also be made of the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/trentdaltonauthor/p/Cx9DDoqBpuV/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">illustrations included in this book</a> (done by Paul Heppell), and <a href="https://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.com/2022/01/21/love-stories-by-trent-dalton/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dalton's cameo</a> in his own story -
<p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>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.</em></p>
Although I’m wise to Dalton's tricks - lush language (<em>...I love her more than all the daisies in Denmark and lollipops in London...</em>); complicated down-the-rabbit-hole plots; repeated metaphors; children that break your heart; and abundant elements of magic realism  - that doesn’t mean they’re not fun to read.

I suspect I’ll ultimately tire of this literary trickery, but for now, <em>Lola</em> was a good yarn.

3/5

I received my copy of <em>Lola in the Mirror</em> from the publisher, Harper Collins Australia via <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/302615" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NetGalley</a>, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a big-hearted, compassionate book set in Brisbane’s underbelly, territory that Dalton knows so well. The main character is a 17 year old girl with no name, a houseless girl – never homeless as she has a home with her Mum in a Toyota HiAce van in a scrapyard on the Brisbane River. Courtesy of the scrapyard owner, a whole community of houseless people they call Oz, live there in various cars, helping and looking out for each other. The girl with no name has in fact had many names over the sixteen years they have been on the run since escaping her monster of a father. One day she hopes to learn her real name. Meanwhile she sketches everything and dreams of becoming a famous artist with an exhibition in New York.

The girl with no name has a broken mirror in which she sees a woman in a red dress called Lola who can answer her questions. The girl and her Mum both work for Lady Flo, the queen of the local underworld who runs a fish shop to cover for her drug dealing business, along with her repulsive, violent son Brandon, who the girl has learnt not to trust.

I loved this tender tale of a young woman longing to know who she is and wanting to escape from Lady Flo and Brisbane’s underworld. She cares for those in her houseless community, particularly her best friend Charlie, already an alcoholic at 18, who she’d dearly love to save as well. Dalton perfectly captures the peril of being homeless and living on the margins. Brisbane is beautifully evoked with the Brisbane River becoming a powerful metaphor for the undercurrent of power, violence and corruption under the seemingly peaceful surface.

The novel is beautifully written with each chapter illustrated by a drawing from the future girl’s artistic exhibition. Despite this having a dark side, Dalton somehow balances the crime and violence with lightness, humour and a tender love story, as well as some surprisingly delightful twists. A lovely book full of humanity and compassion that will make me think differently about those living on our streets.

“My time is done sleeping now, my time is done dying too. Time to live now”

This book.

I have to admit that being a person who doesn’t often understand art and can get a bit bored with poetry, I initially found some of the repetitive prose and poetic devices irritating.

However, as the book went on I fell into a journey step by step with the girl. This girl who runs from pain yet doesn’t shy away from it, who cartwheels through life and sobs by the river, this girl who knows of the Tyrannosaurus Waltz, monster blood, the tyrant lizards and the drug queens, this girl who longs for love and protection, wonders what she is capable of and doesn’t know her name.

She has to look in the mirror. Who is the woman who speaks back? What does she know? What will she share?

An exquisite, gritty, poetic blend of narrative and art. A gallery of words and worlds and search for meaning.

Come and walk with this girl, find out alongside her who she is… dwell in the repetition and soak up the poetry. I am glad I did.

“Mirror Mirror please don’t lie.
Tell me who you are.
Tell me who am I?”

Trent Dalton has absolutely swept me away yet again. He is brilliant in his storytelling and character depth. Lola in the Mirror is thought-provoking, devastating, tender, heartbreaking and utterly delightful. I loved our FMC's story and the insights into homelessness, discovering oneself, loss and grief. Bonus points for the illustrations, they're brilliant.
Dalton is a phenomenal and creative writer, I cannot wait to get my hands on his next release!
Thank you so much to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an eARC of one of my top reads of the year!

Trent Dalton is such a brilliant storyteller. A determined teenage girl who has no name has spent her life on the run. After heartbreakingly losing her mother in what seems like a selfless act, she begins her pursuit of finding out the answer to “who am I?”, only to find more questions and doubts. An authentic insight into marginalised society, homelessness, domestic violence, and yet with a voice of hope and a chance to find love. A beautifully crafted story with richly formed characters, a gift to the reader.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

I loved Boy Swallows Universe 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.
Two stars because I liked the illustrations.

5★
“ ‘Do I have the monster blood in me, Mum?’ I asked.
‘Nah,’ 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?’
‘Nah,’ 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 Paul Heppell 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.

My Goodreads review shows the illustration described here.
“ '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.

My Goodreads review shows the illustration of the mirror:
“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 Goodreads review shows the illustration of the long arm of the law.
“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 Love Stories (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.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-book-show/trent-dalton-leah-kaminsky-peter-polities/102873512

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

I love Lola in the Mirror!! It's set in Brisbane where I grew up so it was nice being able to recognise places and traditions! I felt very nostalgic. Lola is a fantastic protagonist and the story made me laugh out loud. It was also heartbreaking at times. This author is so talented and creative.

A moving coming of age story about loss, and discovery. Hilarious at times, and heartbreaking at others. Full of gritty Australian nostalgia, and full of hope. A beautiful story.

Oh, this book!! I love Trent Dalton but this book pushed that love into obsession! His writing is sublime and I was on the edge of my seat for most of the story. The were copious amounts of tears and nerves. Loved the sketches/art work at the start of each chapter and the cameo appearance of the writer taking down people's love stories! Thank you Trent for the gift of Lola. Colourful!!

Australian author Trent Dalton is probably best known for his bestselling debut Boy Swallows Universe which has now also been adapted for TV for Netflix. That book, and the one that followed, All Our Shimmering Skies, was narrated by a teenager, so it is perhaps no surprise that his latest book Lola in the Mirror, also has a teenage protagonist narrator. A narrator who suffered from an even more traumatic childhood than Eli, the narrator of Boy Swallows Universe, and yet maintains an optimistic outlook on life that pulls her through some particularly dark moments and revelations.
The narrator of Lola in the Mirror does not have a name. Her mother has not told her what her name is in case they are discovered by the authorities for the killing of her husband. The two live in a disused van in the yard of an old panelbeaters in Brisbane with a few other homeless (or ‘houseless’) people. They have been there for about seven years after many years on the run, drifting around Australia. The girl is an artist, and it is her art and an imagined commentary on it from the future, that prefaces each chapter. Her dream is to one day exhibit her drawings at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. But she has to get through the day-to-day grind of survival on the street, including working for a local drug dealer, before she can get there.
Dalton was a former journalist and spent some of his time on the beat in Brisbane chronicling the lives of the homeless and addicted. He brings all of that experience and knowledge into this book, painting a picture of a vibrant, supportive community forced to live on the fringes of the city by a combination of circumstance and policy. It is these side stories, more than the main narrative that bring Lola in the Mirror to life. That main narrative, with its melodrama, good guys and bad guys, fairly cliched teen love story, thriller element, mystery element and resolution all told in Dalton’s naïve style is enough to keep the book going but is nothing particularly revelatory.
In the end Lola in the Mirror is what might be described as a three hanky weepie. Dalton knows how to push emotional buttons and he does it with particular skill. That is not to discount the amount of social comment in around the edges of what comes across, despite the destitution and implied pain, as an almost magical-realist version of Brisbane. Dalton has said that this may be the last of his teen-narrated books, partly based on his experiences as a child and young man. It will be interesting to see how he handles the same issues when he shrugs off the shield of naivete.

I did not expect to love this book but it was absolutely incredible. The writing is so beautiful and the descriptions of Brisbane and surrounding location. Five out of five stars.

‘Do I want to walk through this life of mine? Or do I want to cartwheel through it?’
Trent Dalton take a bow (or do a cartwheel!)
You became Australian writing royalty after one book! I did not read that book (Boy Swallows Universe) but understood there would be immense pressure to maintain a certain level of success second time round. Book two, All Our Shimmering Skies blew my mind. It was immense .... it was a breathtaking odyssey.
Could it be possible Trent would go ‘three for three’?
Yes indeed!
There really are not enough adjectives to describe the phenomenon that is Trent Dalton’s writing. It’s raw, it’s dark, it’s harrowing … then it is magical, it is mesmerising, it is unique and full of hope. In one word, it is utterly brilliant.
‘And I know who I’m talking to now. It’s the thing that brought us here. It’s the thing that give me this life. It’s the things that made us run from the monster. It’s cruelty. It’s life itself. It’s living. It’s turning. It’s art. And it will not stop.’
At face value this is the story of a young girl who is ‘houseless’ (not homeless) living in Brisbane. Who is this girl? What happened in her past? What is her name? What of her future and her dreams? But dig a little deeper and at the heart of Trent’s novels are what it is to be human. Yes, there will be darkness - terrible, horrible things happen - violence, addiction, self-harm. However, Trent holds onto the belief that most human beings have heart, they do care and will rise above to do what is right and just.
‘In my experience, humans are mostly good and decent. In my experience, strangers will more often that not choose compassion over fear, protections over caution’.
Trent Dalton is an amazing writer. Suspend all you know, all you understand of what writing should look like and immerse yourself in how writing can be. From Aussie humour and slang, to the horrifying, confronting and harrowing details of things such as the criminal underworld. This book is atmospheric in its detail with the Brisbane River a character within itself. The illustrations by @pheppell throughout the book are an integral addition to the story. Those sketches with accompanying descriptions at the beginning of each chapter are amazing. They bring so much to what is already an incredible tale. It is heartfelt, it is rich, it is heartbreaking and it is … simply stunning.
‘You ever lived through a single moment in your life that gave meaning to every single tiny moment you lived through before it?’
If you are a fan of Trent’s you won’t be disappointed. If you have never had the privilege to read any of Trent’s work, waste no more time. Put aside what you think you know about writing and what you think you know about Trent’s writing. Take this fantastical journey that is Lola in the Mirror and embark on a life changing journey. Full of melodrama and magical realism I promise it will be memorable - you will smile, you will laugh, you will shed a tear and allow the poetic prose of Trent Dalton sweep you away.
‘You are magic,’ Lola says. ‘You’ve always been magic. You’ve never needed a mirror to see who you are.’








This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

WOW!! This has the WOW factor…..Seriously, Lola In The Mirror by Trent Dalton, is the most moving novel I have ever read! The effect on me is incredibly profound! I probably went through the full range of emotions that exist. I’m exhausted.

Beautifully written and at times poetic, even when some aspects of the story are horrific! The story flows like the Brisbane river where it is set. That being said there were many times that I had to stop reading; afraid of where it was going; afraid the path it was following would be devastating….or even more devastating than I was imagining.

The publisher’s blurb is an excellent introduction:

“Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what's my future? What's my past?'

A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside a van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.
The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But the girl has a dream. A vision of a life as an 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 who's waiting for her on the bridge that stretches across a flooding, deadly river. A life 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 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 ever do. She must look in the mirror.”

A gripping story about homelessness and the dangers of living on the street with drugs, gangs, murders but also the community of support that can exist along with friendship, family and love. It’s about the search for the meaning of life and who you are.

Highly recommended read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from HarperCollins Publishers Australia via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#LolaInTheMirror #NetGalley.

This is a beautiful story and reminded me of Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe which I also loved. Dalton's writing sings but he can also spin a yarn and this one - about a 17 year old girl with no name - is enchanting and addictive. The book opens as she's waiting for her 18th birthday when her mother will turn herself into the police after being on the run for all of their lives, and then - only then - will she know her name.

Unfortunately things don't work out as planned and she worries she may never know who she is.

This unfolds via our young narrator, though she switches to third person every so often... imagining she's become a famous artist and her life has been documented and is being narrated (at some point in the future). In keeping with that theme, each chapter opens with an illustration. There's later a shout-out to artist Paul Heppell who offers up raw and confronting imagery.

Dalton again uses Brisbane as both an enigmatic and murky character here and anyone familiar with the city will recognise the dichotomy of its bright open spaces and dark corners. And again he offers an engaging array of support characters, some of whom seem larger than life and others just downright evil. Part of Dalton's talent lies in the fact he is able to extract secrets and truths from people and translate that into something that is both entertaining and confronting. It's also reminder of the many people who live out there, unseen and the many battles they fight. Or seen and judged before knowing their story. And if Dalton's books show us anything it's that everyone has a story. And I can't help but thinking he's often able to tell that story better than the person who lived it.

'I play nine-ball down at The Well with a fifty-six-year-old floater named Dominique Ferrera. This is the moment when Dom dropped the seven-ball on a jump shot then told me her father, Rhyl, died choking on a piece of steak gristle in the Kedron Park Hotel. Dom shrugged her shoulders and sank the eight-ball with a cushion shot that rolled so cleanly along the rail that I suspected witchcraft.' p 18*

Understandably this novel touches on issues of homelessness (or houselessness), drug addiction, alcoholism, domestic and family violence and mental illness but it doesn't demonise those who are struggling and Dalton sympathetically and empathetically relates their stories of alcoholism and drug addiction - their need to numb themselves and their need to escape.

'Those bags killed all the beautiful and brilliant people who were hiding beneath the skin of all those sad and desperate people across the suburbs who liked seeing me turn up on their doorstep. Sometimes those people could see the best versions of themselves and that's precisely why they needed those bags. Seeing parts of the best versions of themselves was the very thing that was making them sad.' p 150*

This isn't a coming of age story. It's one of a turning point. Of a young woman thrown a lifeline and needing to make a decision that may change her life - for the better or worse. Like most of the characters here, our narrator appears in shades of grey. She's far from perfect and makes stupid decisions, but readers will come to care for her deeply. 

Anyone who knows Brisbane well knows how the Brisbane river defines (and divides) that city. I read somewhere that Dalton suggests the river is a metaphor here and it certainly plays a pivotal role and not just one of destruction, washing away everything before it. It also cleanses before returning to its (own) indestructible self.

* As this is a temporary electronic version the formatting is really screwy so I can't be sure of page numbers.

Trent Dalton gets better and better. This has his trademarks - detailed Brisbane in all its shabby glory, a brave heroine with such an original voice (how does he write girls so well?), language repetition, and an imagination which I hope is never crushed. So much quirkiness. This feels like it bubbled out of the emotion in Love Stories, but apparently inspiration was from visits to a drop-in centre. So funny, but soooooooo dark.


I wish had longer with the ARC, thank you thank you NetGalley and Trent Dalton. I'll be buying a copy of Lola in the Mirror, re-reading many times, exploring the drawings, and all the layers over and over again.

Lola in the mirror has got to be Trent Dalton’s best book yet! This was an absolute roller coaster of emotions - it was full of love, unconventional family dynamics, and the harsh reality of homelessness in the Brisbane streets. It showed the true extent people will go to for the ones they love, but also the backlash of these decisions these people are forced to make. It puts emphasis on the people who are constantly falling through the gaps within Australia’s seemingly never-ending housing crisis and the deeper world of mental illness.

This book was absolutely true to Trent’s gritty Australian based fiction that he writes so well, with some very heavy subject matter. The journey of the main character - known by many names, but also by no name at all - was one full of heartbreak, love, family, danger, friendship and so much more!

Lola in the Mirror is an emotional and heartbreaking story about a 'houseless' teen (17-18 year old) living in Brisbane and what she does to survive and find herself. She does not know her name, her Mum hasn't told her to keep her safe. The story is filled with love and community/friendship, crime and danger, living and dying and magic and mystery. The girl dreams to be an artist, and the pictures at the beginning of each chapter, along with commentary are fantastic. Moving story.