Lola in the Mirror is a moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life, death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror: all our past, all our present, and all our possible futures.
This is a captivating thought-provoking novel that delves into themes of self-discovery and the complexities of the human relationship, and the search for identity, to be able to understand oneself, navigating and finding one’s place in the world through a profound exploration of self awareness and the transformative power of embracing one’s true self.
A girl and her mother have been on the run for 16 years, from the police and incidentally the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat.
They have 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 are on the run, but the girl has a dream.
She has 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 is waiting for her on the bridge that stretches across a flooding, deadly river.
The girl dreams of a life beyond the bullet that has her name on it and now that the storm clouds are rising, there is 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.
The story captures the current blunt reality of homelessness, violence, a dangerous underworld and surviving each day, and the protagonist’s journey is of heartbreak, friendships, love, hope, mystery, a magical mirror.
Trent Dalton’s writing style is engaging and draws the reader into the rich vivid world he has created.
His books can only be described like an advertising slogan; Beautiful one day, perfect the next.
In 2018 he published the semi-autobiographical novel Boy Swallows Universe which was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.
Netflix commissioned a limited series, which was released in January 2024.
In 2020 Dalton published his second novel, All Our Shimmering Skies, with the theme centred on words and storytelling.
In 2021, Dalton published Love Stories, a collection of love stories gathered from interviews with people.
Lola in the Mirror is Dalton’s third novel released 2023.
He certainly has the pedigree to write these emotive novels.
Dalton is a Queenslander, born in Ipswich and the youngest of four sons, he spent his early childhood living with his mother and stepfather, and both his parents sold heroin and spent time in jail.
When he was seven years old, his mother was sent to prison for two years for smuggling drugs and Trent Dalton spent the following 12 months living with his paternal grandparents. After that he lived with his father in a Housing Commission house.