You will never read anything like this, that’s for sure. It just wasn’t for me. I have seen majority good reviews and it seems like it’s a beautiful story.

This was a complex and heart wrenching story that explores the harsh reality of homelessness along with love, resilience and identity. Talking place in Australia, along the Brisbane river, Dalton transported me to this new to me country and wrote characters you feel you can connect with even when you have so little in common. There was romance, drama, suspense and even a hint of magic realism. However, what set this book apart was that Dalton included sketches from the main character’s sketchbook before each chapter (which is definitely a reason to read this book over audio). He then connected each image to the events occurring in her life. I thought this was so unique and loved how “the girl with no name” never stopped chasing her dreams.

Thank you Harper Perennial for the ARC!

Out of his three novels, this one is my least favorite. I appreciate Dalton's effort to shed light on the harsh realities of homelessness and violence against women. However, the impact of these themes is diminished by the surreal romance and the Hollywood-style action plot, complete with exaggerated villainous characters. The novel felt overly long and repetitive, and I found the protagonist occasionally difficult to empathize with.

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

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. Seeet, 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.