Service95 Book Club With Dua Lipa

This month’s Service95 Book Club episode comes to you live from the New York Public Library, in partnership with Spotify, recorded in September in front of an audience. Dua is joined by Booker-shortlisted writer David Szalay to discuss his astonishing new novel Flesh - a brilliantly spare and unsettling portrait of a man caught between desire, social classes, and fate.  The story follows István from a bleak Hungarian housing estate to the upper echelons of London society. But David resists the hero’s arc: István is passive, pliable, often silent – a man seemingly buffeted by events rather than steering them. His life unfolds through abrupt leaps in time, leaving the reader to piece together the shadows between.  In their conversation, Dua and David explore why he chose such pared-back prose, to what extent István exemplifies ‘a primative form of masculinity’, and how money, class, and power warp even our most intimate relationships. They touch on the book’s unresolved tensions, from István’s relationships with women and his stepson, to the existential loneliness that haunts every page.  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

Welcome to the Service95 Book Club with Dua Lipa, a podcast dedicated to the books that stay with us – and the brilliant minds behind them. As well as bringing you a brand-new episode every month, we’ll also be dipping into the archive of fascinating conversations Dua has had with authors over the past two years. This time from the archive, Dua sits down with Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk to discuss her darkly humorous and deeply philosophical novel Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead – Dua's Monthly Read for January 2025. The story follows an eccentric woman in a remote Polish village as she investigates a string of mysterious deaths, raising urgent questions about justice, nature, and the unseen forces that govern our lives. In this episode, Dua and Olga dive into the ethical dimensions of animal rights, astrology as a form of artistic expression, and the lasting influence of William Blake. Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, Fitzcarraldo Editions and Penguin Random HouseGet 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month on the Service95 Book Club podcast, Dua is joined by acclaimed American author Percival Everett to discuss his genre-defying, fiercely satirical novel The Trees – selected as Dua’s Monthly Read for September. A Booker Prize finalist, the book investigates the legacy of racial violence in America through a story that is as chilling as it is darkly comic.   In a Service95 exclusive, Percival reads from the novel’s searing Chapter 64 – a passage that echoes with names of those brutally murdered by lynch mobs. Some are remembered. Some are listed only as “unknown male” or “unknown female”. One by one, line by line, Everett delivers a roll call of history’s brutality – transforming a single character’s obsession into a profound act of remembrance.   His reading underscores the novel’s emotional and political power, revealing how The Trees blends mystery, satire, and mourning into a story that cannot be ignored. 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

Dua Lipa chats with Percival Everett, an acclaimed author and professor whose novel 'The Trees' tackles deep issues of racism and lynching through a darkly comedic lens. They discuss the inspiration behind his work, particularly the historical impact of Emmett Till's story. The conversation highlights the power of satire in literature, exploring humorous character names that enhance storytelling. They also reflect on the significance of collective reading and the emotional impact of confronting America’s haunting past through literature.

Welcome to the Service95 Book Club with Dua Lipa, a podcast dedicated to the books that stay with us – and the brilliant minds behind them.As well as bringing you a brand-new episode every month, we’ll also be dipping into the archive of fascinating conversations Dua has had with authors over the past two years. In this archive episode, Dua sits down with New York Times-bestselling author Emma Cline to talk about her haunting novel The Guest – a story of a young woman adrift in the Hamptons over one long summer, where tension shimmers below the surface. Emma and Dua explore the art of writing characters you never fully trust, how social class and privilege shape invisible boundaries, why delusion can be its own kind of survival strategy, and the ambiguous ending that has left readers everywhere debating Alex’s fate. 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 is joined by legendary Australian author Helen Garner to discuss her quietly devastating masterpiece, This House Of Grief. Selected as Dua’s Monthly Read for August, this true crime classic recounts the harrowing case of Robert Farquharson, a father accused of drowning his three young sons by driving them into a dam on Father’s Day.   In a Service95 exclusive, Helen reads the haunting opening pages of the book – a passage that sets the emotional tone for everything that follows. Her voice carries the weight of a story that has never left the Australian psyche, and her reflections throughout the episode explore the moral complexities of guilt, empathy, and writing about real human suffering. 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

What does it mean to truly bear witness – especially to something that defies comprehension?  This month on the Service95 Book Club, Dua is joined by legendary Australian writer Helen Garner to discuss This House Of Grief – a haunting account of a father on trial for the murder of his three young sons. The book is part true crime, part literary reportage, and wholly unflinching. As Dua says, it has the pace of a thriller, but it also forces us to ask the most uncomfortable questions about love, justice, and the limits of empathy.  Together, Dua and Helen reflect on the power of literature to confront our darkest instincts, and the courage it takes to look – and not look away.  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

Hernan Diaz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and essayist, delves into themes of truth and power in his novel, Trust. He explores the significance of narratives shaped by wealth and the systematic exclusion of women from finance. Hernan shares his insights on how silence can reveal deeper truths and discusses the challenges and persistence faced by writers. Additionally, he reveals exciting details about the upcoming TV adaptation of Trust, featuring Kate Winslet and directed by Todd Haynes.

This month, we’re tackling one of the most urgent issues of our time, the question of migration across borders. Small Boat is a stunning and provocative novel that is inspired by the real-life tragedy of 27 asylum seekers who drowned in the English Channel in 2021. Rather than tell the story through the perspective of the victims, Small Boat is narrated by the French radio operator who failed to send help. It’s an audacious and uncomfortable choice – and that’s exactly the point.  In this episode, Dua speaks with Vincent about moral responsibility, the challenge of maintaining empathy at a time of great political polarisation, and the dangers of becoming desensitised to human suffering. They talk about his choice to centre the story around an ambivalent protagonist, and how fiction can make us face uncomfortable truths.  The novel doesn’t offer easy answers. Instead, it holds a mirror up to us, asking what we would do, what we’ve done, and what it means to look away. As Dua says, this book doesn’t let you off the hook – and it’s one everyone should read.  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

Join acclaimed poet and novelist Ocean Vuong, known for his impactful debut novel, as he unpacks the complexities of language and trauma. He explores how writing can act as a bridge between generations, emphasizing the weight of memory in immigrant experiences. Ocean shares poignant stories about his grandmother and the intersection of queerness and survival. He also delves into the challenges of intimacy in writing, responding to censorship, and the excitement of adapting his novel for film. It's a heartfelt conversation about beauty and the power of words.