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Dua Lipa and Callum Turner have been hanging out in Italy, after throwing a star-studded wedding in Palermo at the beginning of this month. But their relationship started with a book: running into each other at a restaurant in LA, the two realized that they were not only reading the same book – Trust by Hernán Díaz – but had both just finished the first chapter. “So, we’re on the same page,” Turner said to Lipa. Here, four other couples share the humor of their love stories.
Andy, 52, and Lisa, 51, from Otley, Leeds: ‘A lovely lad who loves books – what’s not to like?’
In the University of Sheffield’s English literature class of 1995 there were about 60 women and seven men, including Andy Poplar. He and Lisa Oakley didn’t meet until a night at the student council in their sophomore year. “A smart, handsome boy who loves books – what’s not to love?” says Lisa. “Based on how much I feel I’ve done pretty well.”
The subjects distributed included Modern British literature on Friday mornings. Andy remembers staying at Lisa’s, then we arrived together, which raised eyebrows at first. Lisa laughs as she recalls how, in the early days of their relationship, she felt pressured to speak deeply in seminars when Andy was in the room.
Andy said: “When we first started collecting books. “There were little old Bloomsbury’s who were doing it, and we would trade each other on Valentine’s Day or birthdays and write notes, with the idea that one day we would have a house and have them on the shelf together.” This library now sits on their porch.
They got engaged to Tiffany as a nod to Truman Capote, have a cat named Orwell and their 17-year-old son is also planning to study English at university. “We have a lot of books,” says Lisa. “Even now, after we’ve been together forever, we talk about the books we enjoy over the wine table.” They don’t particularly like to read the same genre these days, but they all love Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.
There is no doubt that they put their English degrees to good use: Lisa is now the head of English at school, and Andy’s work includes it. draw words and sentences on the glass. For 50-year-old Lisa, he got her a 1920s mirror, and added F Scott Fitzgerald’s quote: “That’s part of the beauty of all books.
Millie, 24, from Norwich and Lois, 27, from Oxfordshire: ‘I remember him leaning over the table and saying, “I love that one””
“It’s called the Silent Book Club,” says Millie Smith-Clare, “but we met at a cafe, and it’s become a joke with the baristas there that we don’t keep quiet.”
Millie, who works in PR, met Lois Glithero, a textile conservator, in February 2025 at the Norwich branch of the Silent Book Club, an international project that encourages attendees to bring a book to read with others. “Sometimes you read two minutes, if you’re lucky, then a conversation happens,” says Millie.
The group can have anywhere from six to 30 attendees, depending on the time of year, and it’s a diverse and friendly environment, says Millie. “I brought a wonderful book called Mary, or the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout. I remember Lois leaning over the table and saying, ‘I really like that one.’ Immediately I was like, ‘Oh, she’s so cute’.” A few weeks later, several members of the book club went to a poetry reading at night, an evening that marked the beginning of their relationship.
Books have become very important in their love. “We read a lot of books at once,” says Lois, like Frankenstein and The Great Gatsby. “We’re currently reading all the Moomin stories in season. Because we have such a long relationship, we record them as audiobooks for each other,” says Millie. Last year, they gave each other books for Christmas, inspired by the Icelandic tradition of jolaboka river – gift books to read together.
They go back to book club when they’re in Norwich on weekends, and while they may be a bit out of date, they’re the only legitimate couple, so far. “We’re sneaky people,” says Millie.
Andy, 56, and Sapna, 55, in west London: ‘He texted: “Please Say Yes”‘
In late December 2009, Andy Pieroux, who runs an IT consultancy, was browsing match.com when he met someone he liked and sounded like. Looking at the end of his biography, he noted that his favorite book was Yes Man by Danny Wallace, about a writer’s attempt to say “yes” to every opportunity. Andy said: “I thought, ‘It’s easy to win.’
Brand expert Sapna Pieroux – spoiler, married – liked Yes Man so much that after the breakup she agreed to the idea, saying yes to all kinds of opportunities for a year. “I went to five festivals this summer, I traveled, I learned to dance and skate – badly.” He had an amazing experience, so when the year was over, he decided to continue.
After trying various dating sites, “I say yes to unnecessary dates,” Sapna laughs, she turned to match.com and mentioned the book in her profile. Andy had also read it: “I’m an avid reader and it was a very popular book at the time,” he says. I also liked her sense of humor, although I was not as extreme as Sapna was.”
Andy sent a message with the caption “Please Say Yes”, which made Sapna happy because she knew she had struggled to read his profile. He added that he was afraid to see the film adapted by Jim Carrey because “he overacted and it’s a British story told by a British actor – he should have been Simon Pegg.” Andy said he was afraid to watch the movie too – should they go see it together?
“I said, ‘I have to say yes, but can we go on a first date where I can get to know you, instead of sitting in a dark room and not talking to each other for two hours?'”
Andy asked to carve statues at the Natural History Museum instead. But before that, she realized that Wallace was talking about his latest book, Friends Like These, so they met there for the first time, before eating Chinese food and kissing.
They also made ice sculptures and made penguins, then they got around to a movie for their third date – “We were right about it – I didn’t like it,” said Sapna – then they went for drinks, and Andy asked Sapna if she would be his girlfriend. The answer was obviously yes.
Sam, 29, and Clíodhna, 35, from Edinburgh: ‘I went up to him and said, ‘Can I sit next to you?’ and he looked at me with great fear’
It was a Thursday evening in January when Clíodhna Conboye, manager of a sports store, sat one seat away from Sam Fern, then a novelist, at a book talk held at Waterstones Covent Garden in London. Clíodhna said: “There were about 30 seats, and when I got there, there were about 5 other people. I decided to sit next to someone so that we could crowd a little, and he seemed very friendly.
Clíodhna took out her book as she waited for the lecture to start, and Sam asked her what it was (the essay Can We All Be Feminists? by June Eric-Udorie). Then Clíodhna shook her head as she put her cloak under the chair, and gave Sam permission to laugh at her. In between listening to the writers they had a “good back and forth”, says Sam, and talked about future events they plan to attend. Eventually, Sam’s brother came to meet him, and when he turned to say goodbye to Clíodhna, he was talking to someone else.
Sam spent the next month trying to decide whether to attend the event Clíodhna said she would attend, or whether it would be a surprise. He decided to go, arriving early and showing off, and then waited to see if Clíodhna would say hello. Sam had big, curly hair back then, so it was easy to spot them.
“I went to him and said, ‘Can I sit next to you?’ and she looked at me in a very frightened way,” says Clíodhna.
Sam said: “I jumped because I thought I saw him somewhere in the crowd, then he appeared to my left, and it was like he had sent a phone call over there.”
The two did not stop talking all night. They discovered they shared a mutual love of The Edge Chronicles by Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart, and arranged to meet at the launch the following week. Clíodhna said: “When I was reading these stories when I was about 10 years old, I didn’t know anyone who liked them. So I was very happy that they liked these books which were a big thing for me.” It didn’t disappoint me that the main character in the first book was a very handsome boy with big, curly hair.”
For the next month they went to book events three times a week and soon became an item. He has moved to Edinburgh, where he runs a book club. Sam had it two published children’s booksboth are dedicated to Clíodhna: “I read her first book before we actually met, when we were friends,” she says. “It was fine, which was a relief.”
