Oh boy! Trent Dalton’s new novel Lola in the Mirror is No.1
Trent Dalton has thanked readers who agreed to go with him in a surprising new direction: the book is narrated by a ‘houseless’ 17-year-old girl, who lives with her mum in car.
Trent Dalton’s latest novel, Lola in the Mirror, about struggle and strife on the streets, has reached No.1.
Not just No.1 in fiction. Book industry figures out on Thursday show that it’s the best-selling title across all categories.
Dalton, 44, thanked readers who agreed to go with him in a surprising new direction: the book is narrated by a “houseless” 17-year-old girl, who lives with her Mum in a car.
They are the face of homelessness in Australia; Dalton, a feature writer on The Weekend Australian Magazine, is donating the proceeds of his current book tour to a homelessness shelter.
Homelessness is the one social issue he can’t get his head around: why, in a country as rich, peaceful and generous as Australia, are there so many people on the streets? What are we going to do about the many “women of a certain age” who are about to leave, or be booted out of the workforce, who were never able to buy a house, and don’t have enough super?
“Honestly, Australian book readers are the most extraordinary breed of human,” Dalton said, last night. “The fact they have embraced Lola In The Mirror (HarperCollins) 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 has sold 17,000 copies in print since publication on October 4. Dalton’s first novel, Boy Swallows Universe, was the fastest-selling Australian debut novel ever. It is soon to be a Netflix drama. In total, Dalton has sold more than 1.2 million copies of his books in Australia.
In a review of Lola in the Mirror for The Australian’s books pages two weeks ago, former literary editor Stephen Romei said the novel reminds him of the old slogan for Dalton’s home state of Queensland: beautiful one day, perfect the next.
“Dalton, who has two teenage daughters, takes a risk in telling the story through the eyes, heart and mind of a 17-year-old girl. I think he succeeds,” says Romei.
The Sydney Morning Herald has described the novel as a respectful and surprising portrait of homelessness; ArtsHub deftly notes that the postcode here is struggletown.
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