Dua Lipa's SERVICE95 Book Club Reveals 'Swimming In The Dark' by Tomasz Jedrowski as May's Read

Dua Lipa’s Service95 Book Club reveals details about May’s Monthly Read: Swimming In The Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski. The Service95 Book Club will offer exclusive content from Dua and Tomasz throughout the month on service95.com and across socials.

“Swimming In The Dark is a beautiful coming-of-age love story set against the brutal political backdrop of Communist Poland in the 1980s,” Dua says. “Young lovers Ludwik and Janusz spend an idyllic summer wild camping and swimming in lakes, but when the time comes to return to Warsaw, the moral compromises they will have to make to continue their forbidden romance become apparent. At the same time, the country is suffering its own identity crisis – Communism is beginning to crumble, and Ludwik and Janusz find they are not the only ones living a lie.”

Dua adds, “Taking the form of a love letter from Ludwik to Janusz, reading Swimming In the Dark is a bit like peering into someone’s most intimate moments of self-discovery. It's poetic and tender, burning with a quiet rage at the persecution the LGBTQ+ community in Poland has suffered for decades and continues to fight against today. It’s a beautiful story – I hope you love it as much as I do.”

In this month’s author Q&A between Dua and Tomasz, the two discuss Tomasz’s creative coming out as a writer, his need to look back at Poland to explore the unresolved trauma of his family (and the country), how labels can be dehumanizing, and how politics and class don’t exist in isolation. Readers can watch this video to learn more about Tomasz’s writing process.

Additional content this month includes Tomasz’s recommended reading list including books that inspired his novel, an exclusive essay on the power of the classic gay novel Giovanni’s Room, and his curated playlist. This month’s context piece delves into the history of LGBTQ+ rights in Poland, complemented by photographer Karolina Jackowska’s top LGBTQ+ spots in Warsaw. Readers can also try out this recipe for sweet kasha and twaróg pierogi by Polish chef Zuza Zak and can find this month’s discussion guide here.

Dua’s Service95 Book Club is the latest offering from her Service95 platform, which consists of the At Your Service podcast and the flagship Service95 newsletter. Service95 has been praised by The Guardian as "some of the most thought-provoking short-form cultural writing you can find,” and the podcast has been lauded by The Sunday Times, Vogue and Vulture. In addition, Spotify named it one of the Best Podcasts of 2022, and praised Dua as “an incredibly thoughtful interviewer with a genuine interest in people, social movements, and the arts.”

You can follow Service95 on socials and YouTube to get the latest, and subscribe to the newsletter here to stay in the loop on upcoming monthly reads.

About Tomasz Jedrowski

Tomasz Jedrowski was born in West Germany to Polish parents and studied law at the University of Cambridge and the Université de Paris. He speaks five languages and currently lives in France with his husband. Swimming In The Dark is his first novel. It has been translated into 18 languages and was a finalist for the Polari First Book Prize (2021).

About Dua Lipa

3x GRAMMY and 7x BRIT Award-winning global pop powerhouse Dua Lipa has announced her highly anticipated third album, Radical Optimism, will be released on May 3rd. The album features the recently released “Illusion,” “Training Season” and the euphoric club-ready track “Houdini,” which has become Dua’s longest-running solo No. 1 on the UK Airplay charts and drew in over 12 million YouTube views within 24 hours of release. “Houdini” garnered immediate praise across the board from the likes of Billboard and Rolling Stone, who lauded the track as “a neo-psychedelic dance-floor rager," to Pitchfork and Vogue, who called it “a pop masterclass.” “Houdini” followed Dua’s hit song "Dance The Night" from the box office sensation Barbie, which landed on the Oscars shortlist and earned nominations at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and the GRAMMYs.

Dua's certified platinum sophomore album Future Nostalgia solidified her position as both a critical success and top radio performer. The GRAMMY-nominated record was the longest-running top 10 album by a female artist on the Billboard 200 in 2021 and spawned multiple worldwide hit singles, with “Levitating” earning certified diamond status and the title of Billboard’s No. 1 Hot 100 Song of 2021.

Dua has found superstar status on stage and off, thanks to her many passions outside of music. 2022 saw Dua launch Service95, a global style, culture and society editorial platform that now comprises a weekly newsletter, the Service95 book club and the Dua Lipa: At Your Service podcast, which has been lauded by The Sunday Times and The Guardian, and was named one of the Best Podcasts of 2022 by Spotify. Having graced every major fashion magazine worldwide from Vogue and Elle to W and Dazed, Dua added "designer" to her resume in 2023 when she co-designed Versace's "La Vacanza" collection alongside Donatella Versace herself, which Vogue deemed "the hottest collaboration of the summer."

Dua’s eponymous 2017 debut album is certified platinum, spawned six platinum tracks, and made her the first female artist in BRIT Awards history to pick up five nominations in a single year. Dua has a total of 10 GRAMMY nominations, with three wins for Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist and Best Dance Recording. Across platforms globally, she has amassed over 40 billion streams and holds the record for having the top two most streamed albums by a female artist of all time on Spotify.

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