Trent Dalton praises ‘extraordinary’ Aussies as Lola In The Mirror hits No1
Trent Dalton’s new No1 is being hailed as “even better” than the bestseller that changed his life and became a big-name Netflix show, reveals the woman who helped make him a star.
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Bookselling sensation Trent Dalton has done it again – hitting No1 with his hard-hitting but heartwarming new novel.
Industry figures from Nielsen BookScan out Thursday show Lola In The Mirror is the week’s best-selling title across all categories, fiction and fact. It has sold over 24,000 copies in all formats, 17,000 in print alone, since being published on October 4.
But the acclaimed author – a rock star of the genre to his legions of devoted fans – dodged praise, instead saluting the ordinary people that made it happen by picking up an extraordinary story merging mystery, crime, romance and the confronting issue of Australia’s growing homelessness problem.
“Honestly, Australian book readers are the most extraordinary breed of human. They have the capacity to welcome into their hearts the most harrowing and ambitious and wondrous things,” Dalton said, in typically modest fashion.
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“The fact they have embraced Lola In The Mirror so fiercely fills my heart with profound gratitude and joy. Lola is a love story about a young woman who has fallen through the cracks of Australia in 2023. The more we are collectively willing to learn about the cracks, the more chance we have of closing them.”
The book is 44-year-old Dalton’s third novel, all of them published by HarperCollins.
The Brisbane-based journalist burst onto the book scene in 2019 with the semi-autobiographical Boy Swallows Universe, which broke records to become the fastest-selling Australian debut novel ever, went global and is soon to be released asa big-name Netflix drama.
His books have sold over 1.2 million copies in Australia alone and he is currently on a national speaking tour supporting Lola In The Mirror, where readers happily queue for ages for a chance to meet their hero.
At his packed event in Sydney last week he called out praise to Catherine Milne, Head of Fiction at HarperCollins, with whom he works to shape his stories, and gave a little insight into their collaborative process.
Reacting to the news of his new No1, a thrilled Milne revealed she is hearing some say it is Dalton’s best work yet.
“I am completely over the moon with joy about the response to Lola In The Mirror,” she said. “After only two weeks in the market, it is clear that Australian readers are passionately embracing Trent’s new novel, with so much love for the novel expressed on social media and at events held throughout the country, with many saying it is even better than Boy Swallows Universe – it is so wonderful to see.”
Originally published as Trent Dalton praises ‘extraordinary’ Aussies as Lola In The Mirror hits No1
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