I know we still have a few weeks of 2023 left but I’m calling it now – Lola In The Mirror by Trent Dalton is my book of the year! I don’t know how Trent Dalton manages to weave his magic into each of his books that alters my perspective of the world, but it always leaves me absolutely awestruck!

Lola In The Mirror is a coming of age story of a seventeen year old girl who lives in a van with her mother in a scrapyard beside the Brisbane river. They have been on the run for 16 years after escaping an abusive situation with her mother stabbing her father. She does not know her name as her mother believes having no names will keep them safe from the police and those who want to hurt them.

Whilst this is the basic plot, as usual with a Trent Dalton book, this book is about so much more. It is about love, fate, life, and death. It is about violence, houselessness, art, beauty, addiction, community and knowing who you are. It made me cry with heartbreak, laugh at its humour, feel uplifted and hopeful but most of all, it was thought provoking.

The city of Brisbane is a character in its own right – I can’t imagine this being set anywhere but the River City – and it painted the most vivid picture of the city I grew up in. The inclusion of the artists sketches by @pheppell throughout the book added a beautiful layer of depth and beauty.

If you’re still reading this rambling review, you will have realised I can’t put the words together to adequately reflect all my feelings on this one and you must discover this gem for yourself. And to Trent Dalton, thank you so much for sharing with the world the gift of your imagination, your storytelling and seeing parts of the human experience in the most beautiful ways.