Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton (ONLINE) - Option 1

'Unpredictable, fantastic ... It takes a charged narrative, like Dickens achieves, and as Dalton does too, to reach the heart and the brain - writing that is able to carry both stories, the individual and the political/personal ... To tell you more would spoil this complicated and surprising story. You should read it.' Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

Publisher's description:
A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside a van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.

The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But the girl has a dream. A vision of a life as an artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen 'Lady' Flora Box. A life of love with the boy who's waiting for her on the bridge that stretches across a flooding, deadly river. A life beyond the bullet that has her name on it. And now that the storm clouds are rising, there's only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can ever do. She must look in the mirror.

From international bestselling author Trent Dalton, Lola in the Mirror is a big, moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror: all our past, all our present, and all our possible futures.

WINNER 2024 ABIA BOOK LITERARY FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR 2023 DYMOCKS BOOK OF THE YEAR, 2024 INDIE BOOK AWARDS, 2024 BOOKPEOPLE FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR. SHORTLISTED 2024 MARGARET AND COLIN RODERICK LITERARY AWARD

Note from Joan: Mac and I vacationed in Australia last fall, where Lola in the MIrror was featured in every bookstore window. Mac bought it for me as a gift. Novel Lovers had enjoyed Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe a few years back, and we were both eager to read it. I finished it during the trip, making noises of surprise, appreciation, dismay, and delight as I went. Mac stayed awake during the flight home reading it. We raved about it to Novel Lovers, but it wasn't available in the US at that time (though Jeanne managed to get a copy, and agreed with our endorsement). It will be available here -- print, online, and audio -- as of Sept. 17. Hurray!