Service95 Book Club With Dua Lipa

From the archives this month: Dua’s February 2025 conversation with Irish author Paul Murray, on his novel The Bee Sting. An epic family saga set in contemporary Ireland, the novel follows the Barnes family through financial collapse, fractured relationships and the secrets that have shaped their lives across generations. Paul talks about growing up in 1990s Ireland, a country deeply influenced by the Catholic Church and its conservative values, and how that environment dictated what people could or couldn’t say about themselves. He and Dua discuss the loneliness of adolescence, the ‘friendships’ that define those years and the difficulty of leaving behind relationships that no longer serve you. They also get into the novel’s unforgettable ending and the case for ambiguity in storytelling. Paul draws on Twin Peaks and why David Lynch’s unanswered questions can sometimes be more compelling than definitive answers. Expect a conversation about family, identity, secrecy and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. Join the club: 📩 Email us your thoughts – books@service95.com 📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month on the Service95 Book Club With Dua Lipa podcast, Dua sits down with French author Jean-Baptiste Del Amo to discuss his novel The Son of Man. A dark and unsettling psychological thriller, the book explores themes of inherited violence, patriarchy, masculinity and love. As Dua puts it: “I have to give a trigger warning - this book is dark, even for me!” In a Service95 exclusive, Jean-Baptiste reads a powerful excerpt from the novel, in which the father figure, one of the book’s three protagonists, speaks to his son about his own dark understanding of love, loyalty and betrayal. Whether or not you’ve read The Son of Man yet, this reading offers insight into the emotional and psychological forces driving the story. It also showcases Jean-Baptiste’s evocative writing style, from his depiction of the intensity of nature to the looming mountains of the French Pyrenees, where much of the novel is set. Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble Get in touch: 📩 Email us – books@service95.com 📲 Follow @service95bookclub and @service95 Instagram for updates 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at https://service95.com And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Regular listeners of the Service95 Book Club podcast know, as well as our new monthly read author interviews, we love revisiting some of Dua’s most memorable conversations — and this is a firm favourite. This time from the archive, we’re diving back into Dua’s conversation with George Saunders about his experimental novel Lincoln In The Bardo, Dua’s Monthly Read for October 2024. Set in the cemetery where President Abraham Lincoln is mourning his young son Willie, it’s a story of intense personal grief, told against a backdrop of the American Civil War. Dua and George discuss how he told such an unforgettable story through the eyes of a group of bickering ghosts, and explore the concept of the Bardo, a transitional state between life and death. Together, they read a poignant extract from the book. It’s a glimpse into the mind of one of today’s most compassionate writers — and not one to miss. Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones and Barnes & Noble Get in touch: 📩 Email us – books@service95.com 📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for updates 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at www.service95.com And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month on the Service95 Book Club podcast, Dua sits down with producer and DJ Mark Ronson to discuss his memoir Night People – a candid look at the music, obsession, and late-night worlds that shaped him long before success felt secure. In a Service95 exclusive, Mark reads an excerpt from Night People that revisits a formative early lesson in ambition. The passage recalls a moment when, desperate to get a foot in the door, he sells out his best friend Sean Lennon without his knowing, securing a slot for his band at the New Music Seminar. It’s a story driven by hunger, insecurity, and hard-earned self-awareness. It’s a revealing snapshot of why Night People stays with you – not because it smooths over mistakes, but because it faces them head on. Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble Get in touch: 📩 Email us – books@service95.com 📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for updates 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at www.service95.com And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Regular listeners of the Service95 Book Club podcast will know that, alongside our new monthly author interviews, we love returning to some of Dua’s most powerful conversations from the past two and a half years. This time from the archive, Dua revisits her discussion with Brit Bennett, author of Service95 Book Club’s November Monthly Read for 2023, The Vanishing Half. The novel opens up profound questions about identity, class, and the legacies that echo across generations – including perhaps the most challenging question of all: what even constitutes race? The Vanishing Half follows the Vignes twins, who grow up in a small Southern Black community obsessed with skin tone. As they come of age, their lives split in radically different directions: one sister returns home to raise her dark-skinned daughter, while the other chooses to pass as white, building a life far removed from her past – even from her own family. As their daughters’ lives eventually intersect, Brit weaves a layered exploration of identity, inheritance, and the cost of reinvention across generations. In this episode, Dua and Brit talk about the nuances of self-invention, the emotional cost of secrecy, and the ways in which family history can shape – and sometimes distort – who we become. Together, they reflect on the complexities of belonging, the fragility of personal truth, and the choices that define our lives. Don’t miss it. Get in touch: 📩 Email us – books@service95.com 📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for updates 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at www.service95.com And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month, for the Service95 Book Club, Dua Lipa speaks with Norwegian author Ingvild Rishøi about Brightly Shining, a contemporary reimagining of The Little Match Girl. The novel follows two young sisters and their alcoholic father, blending social realism with subtle magic to explore poverty, hope, and the emotional complexities of the holiday season. Told through the perspective of 10-year-old Ronja, the story highlights the resilience of children navigating instability, the blurred lines between truth and denial within families affected by addiction, and the differing ways siblings cope with responsibility and hope. By weaving Norway’s most iconic Christmas tale into a modern setting, Rishøi creates a narrative that feels both timeless and urgently relevant – a compassionate portrait of childhood survival and imagination. Warning: Contains spoilers! Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble Get in touch: 📩 Email us – books@service95.com 📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for updates 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at www.service95.com And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode, we sit down with legendary author Margaret Atwood, whose groundbreaking novel The Handmaid’s Tale is Dua’s Monthly Read for November. From what comes first – character, place, or premise – to how she handles challenging emotions in her writing, Margaret answers your questions across her extraordinary catalogue. She reflects on the rhythm and sound of her prose, the moments that shift the course of her stories, and responds to suggestions that she can predict the future. Plus, she considers the parallels between Serena Joy and the modern Tradwife movement. If you’ve ever wondered about Margaret’s writing process, this conversation is a must-listen. Buy The Handmaid’s Tale at ⁠Bookshop.org⁠, ⁠Waterstones⁠, and ⁠Barnes & Noble⁠ Get in touch: 📩 Email us – ⁠books@service95.com⁠ 📲 Follow ⁠@service95bookclub⁠ on Instagram for updates 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at ⁠www.service95.com⁠ And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices