LOLA IN THE MIRROR by Trent Dalton
Trent Dalton's best novel so far.
If you read fiction in Australia (and increasingly, around the world), you’d be hard pressed to say you have not at least heard of author and former journalist Trent Dalton. His global smash debut, Boy Swallows Universe, was in the book world a mega hit. There is currently an adaptation on Netflix which I have started watching and it is rather excellent. However, I have to confess that I have twice started to read the book and twice been unable to get into it. I haven’t even started the second novel of Dalton’s, All Our Shimmering Skies, despite it sitting on my bookshelf. Last year I drew the conclusion that, while I really like Trent the person, his books just weren’t my thing.
And that’s OK - not every book is for everyone.
So when novel number three hit shelves last year, titled Lola In The Mirror, I read the blurb and thought it sounded interesting enough but it would likely fall into the category of its predecessors for me. Then, I joined the Birds of a Feather book club and, book one in 2024 was Lola In The Mirror. I told myself I’d give it a try and hope I could get through it.
Lola In The Mirror (which in my brain I keep calling “Lola in the Middle”…no questions about which decade I grew up in!) is the story of a houseless young woman, who does not know her name. She lives with her Mum in a tyreless car near the Brisbane River, amongst a community of others who also live rough but who, together, create a sense of home.
The girl and her Mum live their lives on the run, having lived all across Australia, on the run from the monsters, avoiding the Tyrannasaurus Waltz. This is a euphamism for family violence, which the girl’s mother tells her she experienced, killing her father and going on the run from the cops in the aftermath. She promises the girl - at this stage just shy of 18 years of age - that on her 18th birthday, she will tell her everything, safe now from the foster care system.
In the meantime, the girl’s mother is working for a dangerous drug baroness and skating on the edges of danger, the only way she knows how to keep herself and her daughter safe from the monsters.
This is a novel that sees a young woman desperately searching for truth and identity. This is the story of a city steeped in beauty with a not so hidden underbelly of violence. This is the story of a place transforming before our eyes at a pace that its inhabitants cannot keep up with.
This is a story about family. It’s about friendship. It’s about loyalty. It’s about love.
This is also a story of cruelty. Violence. Pain. Deceit. Loss, Grief. Fear.
When a story contains all of the above and more, it is easy to be overwhelmed. Some of the content is seriously heavy going. However, it’s also a really interesting and insightful look at a side of Brisbane we definitely wont be promoting ahead of the 2032 olympics, a side of Brisbane that has always been there but we too quickly turn away from. That is, that this city is home to many, many people who live on the streets, who do not have safe, clean homes to rest their heads in, to raise their kids in. In 2024, it is a travesty that this occurs in Australia, a nation so wealthy and privileged. I’ve seen many people say they found this book difficult to read, and I understand why. It was possibly and probably less challenging for me given my background as a lawyer and teacher - very little surprises me these days, and I have the ability to deal with trauma in an even manner. It hurts by heart, but I have a pragmatism that serves me well in difficult situations.
All of this is to say this: WOW. Just, wow.
Lola In The Mirror is a novel that will stay with me a long time. I absolutely loved it - while the first half was definitely slower, it is essential in setting up the drama of the second half and while tough going content wise, is necessary. Lola is beautifully written - Dalton has definitely lost his talent for brevity he was taught as a journalist, as this book is over 400 pages long - but there is not a part of the story that I felt didn’t contribute to the overall story line.
This is a wonderful, beautiful book. I am so glad the bookclub chose it and I read it. It may not be for the feint of heart but heart it is full of. Easily Dalton’s best novel.