Lola in the Mirror - by Trent Dalton (Paperback)

About the Book

A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat and the police who want to make them pay. Home is now a van with four flat tires in a junkyard by the edge of a river. The girl has no name, because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But she has a vision of a life as an artist. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld. A life of love with the boy who's waiting for her on the bridge above the deadly river. And once her mother can no longer protect her, there's only one person who can help her realize her dreams. That person is Lola. But she has to find her first.

Book Synopsis

"Unpredictable, fantastic. . . . It takes a charged narrative, like Dickens achieves, and as Dalton does too, to reach the heart and the brain. . . . To tell you more would spoil this complicated and surprising story. You should read it."--Sydney Morning Herald

Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, an irresistible novel from the #1 internationally bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies.

A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat and the police who want to make them pay for his death. Home is now a van with four flat tires in a junkyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.

The girl has no name, because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But she has a dream. A vision of a life as an artist. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld. A life of love with the boy who's waiting for her on the bridge above the deadly river. And once her mother can no longer protect her, there's only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person is Lola. But she has to find her first.

Internationally bestselling author Trent Dalton delivers a big, moving, darkly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love and fate, life and death, and all the things we see when we look in the mirror: all our past, all our present, and all our possible futures.

Lola in the Mirror is illustrated with black-and-white line art throughout.

Review Quotes

"Trent Dalton's third novel reminds me of the 1980s advertising slogan for the author's home state of Queensland: Beautiful one day, perfect the next. . . . Lola in the Mirror is a bold, big-hearted, hopeful, humorous, dark, reflective, truthful, superbly written novel that confirms Dalton's place in all the shimmering skies (to borrow the title of his second novel) of Australian literature. He is not a rising star but a star full stop." - The Australian
"Wonderful. . . . An original, heart-thumping novel . . . you are right there with the protagonists, feeling and believing every word and every raindrop. It is the type of novel you read filled with pure hope and sorrow for the characters. You want to believe that everything is going to work out just fine, and that there will be dancing, and art, and delight. You won't know until the end, and by that time you, too, are running through the streets, turning the pages, and trusting that love wins." - Readings (Australia)
"A work of shimmering originality and energy, with extraordinary characters and a clever, thrilling plot. . . . unputdownable." - Sydney Morning Herald on All Our Shimmering Skies
"A spellbinding saga of survival and transformation in WWII Australia. . . . This is a wonder." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) on All Our Shimmering Skies
"This thrilling novel takes you along for the ride." - New York Times Book Review on Boy Swallows Universe
"Boy Swallows Universe hypnotizes you with wonder, and then hammers you with heartbreak. . . . Eli's remarkably poetic voice and his astonishingly open heart take the day. They enable him to carve out the best of what's possible from the worst of what is, which is the miracle that makes this novel marvelous." - Washington Post on Boy Swallows Universe