Lola in the Mirror

Lola in the Mirror (2023) by Trent Dalton follows an unnamed teenage protagonist who is unhoused and grapples with a tragic past. Presenting a detailed picture of Brisbane’s housing crisis and the city’s criminal underbelly, Dalton infuses the narrative with artwork and magic realism elements, illuminating the difficulties of growing up in traumatic circumstances. Winner of the 2024 Australian Book Industry Award for Literary Fiction of the Year, Lola in the Mirror explores themes of The Struggle for Identity Amid Adversity, Resilience of the Human Spirit, and Art as Reflection and Redemption.

This guide refers to the 2023 Harper Perennial print edition of the text.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of sexual violence and harassment, child death, suicidal ideation, self-harm, death by suicide, substance use, addiction, graphic violence, and racism.

Language Note: The source text uses anti-Indigenous slurs to refer to Indigenous Australians, which this guide does not replicate.

Plot Summary

An unnamed female protagonist, who eventually calls herself Lola, has been on the run with her mother for her entire life. Currently, they reside in a scrapyard van in Brisbane. When Lola was a baby, her mother killed her father in self-defense—an event they call the Tyrannosaurus Waltz. Lola’s mother will not tell the girl her name but vows to reveal everything on Lola’s 18th birthday before she turns herself in to the police. That day is only a few months away. In the meantime, Lola dreams of being a world-famous artist and sometimes narrates her life from the perspective of a fictional art critic named E.P. Buckle. She also often looks in a magic mirror and talks with a glamorous woman named Lola, who travels the world.

Lola’s life is upended one day when she accompanies her mother to sell drugs by the river, drugs supplied by the dangerous criminal, Flora Box, who doubles as a seafood wholesaler. When a young couple argues nearby, and their baby stroller speeds toward the river, Lola’s mom springs to action, jumping in the raging river to save the little girl. After a heroic effort, another brave bystander carries the child to the river’s edge, but Lola’s mom and the child’s father perish in the water. Distraught, Lola is left to survive on her own, relying on friends and the work she does for Flora. Her mother leaves clues about her identity, helping Lola discover the woman’s real name was Erica Finlay and that she was not actually her mother. As Lola grapples with her past and her identity, she seeks answers from the woman in the mirror.

Furthermore, working for Flora conflicts Lola. She needs the money but hates that she delivers such potent drugs to lonely people. Her clients enjoy her company while they shoot up. One day, Lola arrives at a regular’s house to find that he has died by suicide by hanging. She convinces herself that it is no big deal, so she continues her route and eventually meets up with her best friend, Charlie Mould, who also sells for Flo. After Charlie shows her where someone beat an unhoused man to death, he provokes a police officer, and a chase ensues. Lola ends up at the police station.

There, Lola learns that Detective Sergeant Geoff Topping has followed her for months to bring down Flora Box and her superiors. In exchange for helping him, Topping offers Lola the chance to learn about her past. He gives her a phone that is also a listening device. He urges her to tell Flora about her art school dreams and tells Lola when she learns that she is stuck working for Flo for life, she should call him for a way out.

Lola discovers that Topping was correct, so she agrees to help. In the meantime, Flo promotes Lola to collections, a job working with the woman’s son, Brandon, who has a history of aggression and sexually forcing himself onto Lola. Flo also gives Charlie and Lola a key to a mansion that is empty for the holidays. On Christmas night, as Lola falls asleep in the son’s bedroom, she discovers a sketchbook. One drawing is of her standing in a crowd, shouting that she is invisible. For the first time, Lola feels seen.

One night, Lola follows the boy, Danny Collins, through the city and intervenes when two men threaten him. She tells him not to speak until he considers how his words will be remembered. Taking his time, the boy claims to love her. They spend the rest of the evening together, forging an intense connection. When it begins raining, they kiss. Then, Lola tells Danny to find her again on the bridge where they first met.

Walking home, Lola stumbles upon a drunk and unconscious Charlie; an attacker is about to bludgeon Charlie to death. Lola disarms the attacker with kindness, and he ultimately walks away. The next day, Lola learns that she has a biological sister who wants to tell her everything, including her real name. Later, Lola accompanies Brandon to collect drug money, and he is especially brutal. When they return to Brandon’s apartment, he attacks her for being a spy. She stabs his throat before Topping arrives and shoots him dead. As Topping comforts her, Flora appears and kills the detective. Lola flees, and Flo and her henchmen hunt the girl down.

Lola hides with her friend, Esther, in a hole in the ground while it continues to rain. Meanwhile, Danny visits the bridge every night. Once the city floods, panic ensues, and Lola emerges. She finds her mirror smashed to pieces and speaks with the reflected woman one final time. On her way to meet her sister, Flora’s men spot Lola; they pursue her and Charlie. Eventually, they catch Charlie, but they still hunt Lola down. After Charlie is murdered, Lola battles in the river with Flo, who gets stuck in debris and drowns. While Lola floats downstream, nursing a bullet wound in her abdomen, Danny spots her from the bridge and dives in to save her.

Lola is hospitalized for five days but survives. She and Danny salvage her van and move it to his parents’ house, where they stay together. After recovering, Lola meets her sister and learns that Erica Finlay stole her. Rejecting her actual name—Iris Gould—Lola chooses her own identity. She also enrolls in art school and meets Christina, the girl Erica Finlay saved in the river. When she sees the little girl, she introduces herself as Lola Inthemirror.