Book Review: Lola In the Mirror

Lola in the Mirror
by Trent Dalton
Review by Jo
From the author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies, this is the story of a creative, resourceful girl searching for who she is, and who she wants to be. She lives with her mother in a van with flat tires in the back of a scrapyard on the banks of the Brisbane River. She has no name, because it could be dangerous to have a name when you’re on the run. We meet her friends – some of the other colourful houseless people who live in her district – and also some darker characters, like Flora Box and her son, the local drug lords.
The girl dreams of becoming a famous artist, and documents her life in black ink drawings that actually appear throughout the book. This is such a unique, memorable device in contemporary fiction that adds so much to the story. As the novel develops, we find out how she came to be living on the streets, and how her life could have been very different. Lola In the Mirror is a gritty, sometimes funny, always heart-felt story of love, fate, life and death.