lola in the mirror
by Trent Dalton

Trent Dalton is my favourite author, and I picked this book up thinking he could do no better than Boy Swallows Universe. But of course, comparing works before you’ve even begun is a sticky starting point, and I quickly realised that Lola in the Mirror is in a league all of its own.

All her life, the main character of our book, a girl, has had no name. She’s told that names are dangerous things, and her mum needs to hide her true identity from the monster that they left bleeding in the kitchen. Ever since she can remember, the girl has been on the run and homeless, living in a flat-tyred HiAce in Brisbane.

Weaving magic with reality is what Dalton does best, and it’s my soft spot. The girl has a mirror in which she sees the glamorous life of Lola, and she paints pictures of the world and people around her, twisting them into fantastic monsters and animals. Every chapter opens with a stunning double page black and white drawing (illustrated by Paul Heppel) which shows the girl’s weird and otherworldly understanding of reality.

At its core, Lola in the Mirror is about self discovery, and it’s done in the most heart-wrenching manner. It’s one of those books that, when I found myself inching towards the end, I had to force myself to put it down for a moment so that I could savour the words on the page.