This month, Dua is joined by award-winning author and academic Lea Ypi to discuss Free – her internationally acclaimed memoir and Dua’s July Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club podcast.
Through the eyes of her younger self, Lea recounts an extraordinary childhood in Albania under Europe’s last Stalinist dictatorship before witnessing the collapse of communism and the promises and disappointments of the free market. Growing up under Enver Hoxha’s regime in one of the world’s most isolated countries, ideology shaped everything from the stories children were taught in school to the futures they were allowed to imagine. Dua and Lea explore this remarkable political transformation, and the question at the heart of the book: what does freedom really mean?
One of Free’s most distinctive qualities is its perspective: written almost entirely through Lea’s eyes as a child, then later as an idealistic young woman, rather than with adult hindsight. Dua and Lea discuss how this narrative choice reveals the absurdities of authoritarianism with warmth and humour, while raising deeper questions about ideology, memory and the stories we’re taught to believe.
They also explore the hidden lives beneath communist Albania, from secret family histories to the state’s all-encompassing “biography” system, which determined everything from education and employment to where people could live and who they could marry. Lea reflects on uncovering truths that her family spent years concealing, and the lasting consequences of living in a society built on surveillance and silence.
Free is equally interested in what came after: the collapse of communism and the uneasy reality that followed, as democracy and capitalism arrived alongside instability, inequality and loss. From the devastating pyramid scheme crisis to mass emigration, the conversation challenges the idea that political liberation guarantees personal freedom.
Looking to Albania today, Dua and Lea discuss the current protests in the country, which are the most significant since the fall of communism. They reflect on protests, the tensions between development and environmental protection, the inspiration they find in the Albanian people holding power to account, and the potential this has to be a model for the rest of Europe. Lea also answers questions from the Service95 community.
Free is thoughtful and rich with history, and – like this conversation – reaches far beyond one country’s story, beckoning us to see freedom as an evolving idea, shaped by politics, memory and the lives we build for ourselves.
Watch the full conversation on Service95’s YouTube channel or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
There’s More – Delve Deeper Into Lea Ypi’s Free With The Service95 Book Club...
READ the books that shaped Lea Ypi’s writing
LISTEN to a playlist picked by Lea Ypi to soundtrack Free from start to finish
BOOKMARK five moments from Albania's recent past that put Free in context
DISCOVER our photo essay charting how communism left its mark on Albania’s landscapes
EXPLORE how natural beauty and rich history collide on a road trip through Albania’s mountains
GO FURTHER with 11 books and films that capture the complexities of political upheaval
