Trent Dalton is never going to write fiction for fiction’s sake. He is a journalist, after all. Therefore, there is always more to his stories than a simple quest or love scenario. In his wonderful third novel, he takes you by the hand and leads you through the streets of Brisbane, demanding you to notice the people on the sidelines; those who are living without a house, those whose luck has run out, or simply those who choose to be invisible. (Or even the man who sits on the street corner with a typewriter collecting love stories.) He does this with compassion, humour, and the odd pop-culture reference. (Fans of the ’80s music scene will be delighted.) And then, by using a story that sweeps across the riverbanks, the fish market, the outer suburbs of Brisbane, and the street corners, Dalton highlights the very real and traumatic effects of violence, and, in particular, violence against women.

The story of a young woman searching for and finding her place in the world is not a new concept, but under Dalton’s mythical guise, Lola In the Mirror becomes an original, heart-thumping novel that manages to illustrate all that is good and bad in each of us. Using sweeping gestures, he writes so that you are right there with the protagonists, feeling and believing every word and every raindrop. It is the type of novel you read filled with pure hope and sorrow for the characters. You want to believe that everything is going to work out just fine, and that there will be dancing, and art, and delight. You won’t know until the end, and by that time you, too, are running through the streets, turning the pages, and trusting that love wins.