Service95 Book Club With Dua Lipa

For her August Service95 Book Club interview, Dua Lipa is joined by author Madeline Cash to discuss her breakthrough debut novel, Lost Lambs.

Set in an unremarkable American suburb, the story follows the Flynn family, who are on the brink of unravelling: parents Bud and Catherine are trying to make an open marriage work while their three daughters each test the limits of adolescence. Holding a funhouse mirror up to contemporary America, the novel is at once laugh-out-loud funny, hyper-real and thought-provoking. Dua and Madeline’s conversation follows suit.

Together, they explore the strange contradictions of modern life, from religion and conspiracy theories to beauty, identity and why so many of us continue searching for meaning even when our lives look exactly as we’re told they should. They also delve into Madeline’s meticulous world-building, the inspiration beneath her most eccentric characters and why the novel’s most absurd moments often feel closest to the truth.

Watch (or listen to) the full conversation to discover why Lost Lambs is Dua’s August Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club.

Join the club:
📩 Email us your thoughts – books@service95.com
📲 Follow @service95bookclub and @service95 on Instagram for more
📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at ⁠https://www.service95.com⁠

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts.
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From the Service95 Book Club archives, this episode from March 2025 sees Dua sit down with Tommy Orange to discuss There There – his powerful novel that follows 12 Native Americans whose lives converge at the Big Oakland Powwow. Dua and Tommy trace the histories often omitted from America’s national story and talk about what fiction can do that history books alone cannot. Tommy reflects on the real-life events that inspired the novel, including the 1969 to 1971 occupation of Alcatraz and the Standing Rock protests, and how those moments found their way into his characters. He describes personal experiences woven into the book through the character of Thomas Frank, and explains why he left the novels ending unresolved, handing the reader the job of imagining what comes next. It’s a story of identity, belonging, inherited trauma and resilience – and a conversation you’ll think about long after hearing it. 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  
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For her July Service95 Book Club interview, Dua Lipa is joined by award-winning author and academic Lea Ypi to discuss Free, Lea’s internationally acclaimed memoir, which recounts her childhood in Albania during the collapse of communism. 

From hidden family histories and state surveillance to protest and modern-day Albania, Dua and Lea explore how political systems continue to shape individual lives, collective memory and the country’s evolving identity, returning to the question at the heart of the book: what does it really mean to be free? 

Watch (or listen to) the full conversation here to delve deeper into Free, Dua Lipa’s Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club. 

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

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 
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For the Service95 Book Club this month, Dua is joined by writer, poet, playwright and musician Kae Tempest to discuss his latest novel, Having Spent Life Seeking, which is Dua’s Monthly Read for June. 

Together, Dua and Kae explore the novel’s core themes: forgiveness and atonement, the instability of home when both the person and the place have changed, and the difficult process of becoming fully ‘alive’ again after years spent disconnected from the world. At the centre of their discussion is Rothko, a character Kae describes as “dislocated from life”, alongside the novel’s wider cast, each carrying their own desires, wounds and ways of surviving. 

Kae also reflects on his immersive writing process, describing characters less as inventions than people he has spent years getting to know. The conversation moves through addiction, shame, creativity, identity and the role of art as a means of processing experience and remaining open to the world. 

Watch (or listen to) the full conversation here to dive deeper into Having Spent Life Seeking, Dua Lipa’s Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club. 

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