I love a good celebrity book club. From Reese Witherspoon, Oprah and Jenna Bush Hager to Emma Watson, Emma Roberts, Kaia Gerber and Laufey, each is so unique and spotlights different authors and genres for endless discovery. One club I've been following with particular interest is Dua Lipa's Service95 book club, which platforms many writers who have entered the contemporary classics cannon, including Min Jin Lee, Ocean Vuong and Roxane Gay. Her tastes lean literary, propelled by intriguing protagonists—and that rings true for her May book club pick, So Late In The Day by Irish author Claire Keegan.
Dua Lipa's May Book Club Pick Is a Sally Rooney-esque Look at the 'Small Cuts' That Erode a Relationship
Get ready to do some serious pondering
•
Published May 6, 2026
PureWow editors select every item that appears on this page, and some items may be gifted to us. Additionally, PureWow may earn compensation through affiliate links within the story. All prices are accurate upon date of publish. You can learn more about the affiliate process here.
Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Shutterstock
So Late In The Day is actually the title of Keegan's anthology of short stories, which also includes The Long and Painful Death and Antarctica. Keegan, a short story writer, explores the dynamics between women and men and all the ways in which a possible connection is blighted by human folly.
“So Late In The Day opens with an unremarkable man, Cathal, on a seemingly uneventful day in Dublin, Friday July 29th. But something is off. He’s distracted at work, his colleagues are being nice to him, he’s trying to avoid them," the book club's caption reads. "At the centre of the book is Cathal’s relationship with Sabine, his French girlfriend. With her trademark precision, Claire slowly reveals the small cuts Cathal unthinkingly delivers to their future together. Cathal is no monster. You won’t find him lurking in the manosphere, and that’s exactly the point. His is a more mundane form of inherited misogyny that sucks the joy out of his relationship with Sabine and ultimately diminishes him too."
If you enjoy the introspection of Sally Rooney's novels (Intermezzo, Normal People, Beautiful World, Where Are You), then So Late In The Day will drop you into one character's minute, intrusive thoughts as they sabotage what otherwise could have been a bright and brilliant future.
Of the book, Lipa wrote, "I read So Late In The Day as a kind of parable about lazy misogyny. It’s a lesson in what you risk losing if you can’t bring yourself to change. Claire delivers this without melodrama or judgment and with endless grace. You’ll want to read this book at least twice to see how she does it."
