Dua Lipa‘s May pick for her Service95 book club is ‘Still Born‘ by Guadalupe Nettel and translated by Rosalind Harvey. The book follows Laura and Alina who are friends in their early 30s living in Mexico. Both are determinedly childfree, believing that motherhood is a trap of the patriarchy. But then Alina changes her mind. You would think this is where their lives diverge, but Alina’s life is upended with a devastating medical diagnosis for her unborn daughter, and Alina and Laura’s friendship becomes more important than never. Baby Inés doesn’t die as her parents feared – she is still born, despite her prognosis. But Nettel doesn’t shy away from the complex realities of raising a child with profound disabilities. Dua says “it focuses on the transcendent power of love, as the parents get to know their daughter.”

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Dua Lipa‘s April pick for her Service95 book club is ‘Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter. The novel tells the story of a young family devastated by grief when the boys’ mother suddenly dies. As the weight of their grief threatens to sink then, a human-sized cow arrives on their doorstep and moves in, announcing that he will stay there until they no longer need him. Is the giant talking cow real or a figment of their imagination? That’s the question that carries through the book but, by the end, it barely matters. Dua said: “Ever so occasionally, you pick up a book and it spins you around and turns you upside down. This is one of those books.”

Dua Lipa‘s March pick for her Service95 book club is ‘There There‘ by Tommy Orange. The novel follows twelve characters from Native communities, all travelling to the Big Oakland Powwow, who are all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realise. Dua said Orange “starts with a brief but sharp history lesson in the prologue of ‘There There,’ dispelling 400 years of slurs and stereotypes against Native people in 10 fiery pages — almost too painful to bear, but essential to start his story.”

Dua Lipa‘s February pick for her Service95 book club is ‘The Bee Sting‘ by Paul Murray. The novel is a family saga set in modern Ireland, following the Barnes family: mother Imelda, father Dickie, 18-year-old Cass, and 12-year-old PJ. Following a series of miscommunications, this seemingly normal family misfires at every turn until they become isolated from the small community they live in as well as each other. Dua called ‘The Bee Sting’ a “masterclass in building tension” and said Murray “nails the loneliness of childhood and teenage years,” in addition to “the ways in which acting normal on the surface can conceal the darkest of secrets.”

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Dua Lipa talks to Olga Tokarczuk about her novel, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, as part of the Service 95 book club.

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