Im not sure why, but I hadn't realised this was a book of short stories and was expecting more of a central core. However, I did enjoy the stories, particularly "peach cobbler" and "instructions for married Christian husbands" The insightful telling of the many different ways of living as a black woman in the southern US, and particularly how to deal with the hypocrisy and misogyny of many of the men was well written. However I did find it slightly repetitive by the end, and it's maybe a book to dip into every now and again.
Thank you to netgalley and pushkin press for an advance copy of this book.

I had heard many people praising The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, and the title was certainly intriguing, but knowing that it was a collection of short stories, I held back. Short story collections are not my favourite thing to read, too often I find myself wading through the book in search of the one, or if I am lucky two stories that I will really enjoy. This time I did myself a disservice, I should have read this book far sooner. This is a powerful collection of stories, a small but perfectly formed book, and every single story between its covers sings. Some are all too brief, yet still completely fulfilling, others have been given a little more space to allow the characters and their relationships to breathe. Each unique story introduced characters that seemed to come to life on the page, they felt real in their desires and in their choices, and though they were very different there was still a connecting thread in the author's writing style. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more from this author.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

An excellent debut collection of short stories depicting the lives of Black women in America. These stories explore themes including family, relationships, sex, religion and food, and Deesha Philyaw demonstrates considerable range across this collection, both in terms of style and subject matter. She avoids homogenizing her characters or presenting them as passive victims of sexism or racism: they face a number of different challenges and inequalities, but are shown to be smart, strong, resourceful and frequently transgressive.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review!

I loved this collection of short stories with thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the arc of this book in exchange for this honest review

This book is filled with a wonderful collection of short stories about black women, their desires, the secrets they keep and their religion.

Each story was beautifully written and whilst some were only a handful of pages long, they sure did pack a punch and the author managed to capture everything they wanted to say in just those few pages.

As with all short stories, some stood out more than others and there were definitely some that I would have happily loved to read as a full novel. Many of the characters were so complex that I definitely wanted to know more about them and what drove them to do what they did.

Overall the author focussed on a number of issues / subjects within each of the stories which were handled really well. Every one of these stories were unique in their own way and had me completely hooked, so much so that I devoured the entire book in one sitting!

Thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the ARC.

I enjoyed reading this. It’s a collection of short stories, which looks at the lives of different Black women across America. It explores their families, relationships and friendships.

Wow - this book was not what I was expecting and I loved it.
For some reason I though that this would be a book in the style of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood or even Fannie Flagg's books but instead I was drawn into the very secret (and often messy) lives of black women from the southern states of America.

The book is bold, shocking (in a good way) and wonderfully readable plus a whole lot raunchier than the description on Net Galley.
I'm loving discovering new short story writers and Philyaw is definitely someone I'll be eagerly awaiting more from.

This is a raucous, sexy and fun collection of short stories, that all feel somewhat connected.

We have love affairs, people struggling with maintaining relationships, and hidden secrets throughout, in what is a compelling and fun set of stories.

I will say that the fact they all feel like part of the same world is both a benefit and a downfall of the collection at times- it’s coherent, but occasionally difficult to remember that you’re not reading chapters of a wider novel.

That said, these are fun and unapologetic stories that I had a great time with.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An absolutely astounding collection of beautifully woven short stories, encapsulating the intensity of sexuality amongst black women within a religious space, with ties to the home, food and language. Whilst we aren’t given much time to know the various characters, we finish each story having understood them well, each journey we are taken on comprised of remarkable prose, which wraps us tight and gently let’s us go. One of the best short story collections I have ever read.

Deesha Philyaw writes an outstanding and moreish collection of 9 multilayered short stories focusing on multi-generational Southern black women and girls with connections to a conservative church that is so often hypocritical and judgemental. The vibrant stories are subtly nuanced, beautifully written, featuring mouthwatering food, such as that 'peach cobbler'. There are dysfunctional families, an exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters, and those of siblings, reflecting and looking at the jarring impact of their religion with the realities of their lives, the desires, needs and fears. The stellar characters are distinct and human, vividly highlighting themes of what it is to be black and female, family, race, community, identity, faith, friendship, love, sex, sexuality, and infidelity. There is humour and wit, as in Instructions for Married Christian Husbands, along with heartbreak, and a breaking free of the expectations that can blight a life.

These are an emotionally satisfying, astonishing, and joyous set of intimate, complex and personal stories to immerse yourself in, from a talented author that will make you laugh and cry, with characters you can invest in, their strength, resilience, vulnerabilities, and bravery. My favourite stories are Dear Sister, How to Make Love to a Physicist, When Eddie Levert Comes, Snowfall and Eula, but to be honest, every story is a gem as each weaves its own particular spell. I just cannot recommend Philyaw's short stories highly enough, she is an incredible writer. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

This is a bold, striking book of short stories with vivid characterisation and a multi-faceted depiction of womanhood and relationships. Each portrait has a distinctive voice and tells a tale that packs a punch every time. A competent collection with lots to reflect on.
With thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a wonderful set of short stories that explores relationships with family, with desire, and with body, amongst other themes, in a wonderfully nuanced way. Philyaw is brilliant at driving character connection and giving each story a distinct voice. In the wider context these stories highlight the impact of societal views on a women, and the wonderful characters features within The Secret Lives of Church Ladies are, unapologetically, themselves.

A clever collection of stories. So much variety and such strong themes beam off the page, creating vivid and visual images for the reader. A mix of emotions and situations are featured, which as a collective makes this an even more powerful and influential read.

I loved the style of these stories.

It looked at both the reality of certain black women's lives whilst also looking at their inner thoughts, what they see, how they perceive certain goings on as they go about their days.

Split into nine stories, I found each one to be unique.

Every tale was distinct, with its own voice.

Narration played a big part in these tales. It was all well crafted with honest afterthoughts. The women portrayed are ones who know their own mind and desire more than what is perhaps first presented to them.

With this small collection of stories comes an array of themes, each one important and I was pleased to see them highlighted. They included:

Religion, sexuality, body positivity, infidelity, sexism, feminism.

And woven amongst all of them were complicated relationships. Families, couples, friendships.

Although fiction, the way Philyaw writes makes it read like non-fiction.

The thoughts and feelings transcribed could very well be a reality for someone and this I think gives the book an extra depth as I'm sure there will be many women who read these stories and sit there nodding along, feeling seen, feeling heard.

The Secret Lives of Church ladies is an important group of stories. It is a short and snappy read that is at times sassy and gets straight to the point. Showing the complexities of the connections experienced through a variety of situations.

In this book you will find strength.

An absolute pleasure to read.

This book made me cry, the way these women are treated is disgraceful and I must admit it made for uncomfortable reading but it was well written

A taut collection of stories about the intersection of female identity, queerness, and religious community - I really enjoyed this and would look forward to more from Philyaw!

Absolutely flawed by this extraordinary book. And love this alternate cover art, as well. Were these all first chapters in longer books, I'd buy them all. I was especially rocked by Instructions for Married Christian Husbands which was not only spot on in its understanding of the complexities of adultery, but constructed in such a way as add even more depth to the message. I love the creativity in this book. I love the use of language, I love the voices. It's very small and I could have read 10 more stories. Can't wait to read more from this writer.

short stories are normally not my first choice, but wow this book was amazing! the secret lives of church ladies follows 9 black women and girls, telling stories of desire, sexuality, faith, and family. each story is so different from the one before, but equally so enjoyable. i can’t recommend this book enough

"My mother's peach cobbler was so good, it made God himself cheat on his wife."


From the blurb: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good.

What a gorgeous collection! The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, out in the US since last year but only recently coming to our shores, explores - well, you guessed it. In an interview, it is described as about “the tensions between being human and being holy” and I couldn’t sum it up better myself.
Each story, the shortest of which is just a few pages, is a slice-of-life style exploration of one woman’s point of view, and the vast majority of the stories are about desire. Philyaws collection lifts the lid on the secrets women keep and what they do when the constraints of society are lifted, even if only briefly.
There’s Eula - who meets a female lover, secretly, once a year, and another woman who meets a string of lovers, never taking money, but doing it for her own pleasure. It’s an arresting collection of portraits - all of these women are flawed, curious and in search of joy, even if that joy has to be taken in brief, secretive bites given the structures that surround them.

Secret Lives is also, as the author herself puts it, “unapologetically Black”, and examines the relationship Black women have with two big institutions - the church, but also marriage. Both are big themes in the collection, wending their way through every story, most hauntingly in “Peach Cobbler” and “Snowfall”.The churches of the book’s title are generally those strange-sounding American kinds unfamiliar on our shores. That said, there’s still so much to connect to in this book - especially coming from an Irish Catholic background, with the knowledge of how similarly stultifying it can be. The book interrogates these big topics but also has so much to say about womanhood, about pain, about joy and about love.

It made me think a lot about what women tolerate for their faith, their church, and the institution of marraige. Again that tension between being human and holy. Despite the collection’s brevity, there’s an awful lot to digest, but it never feels heavy or difficult. It is also, in many places, very sexy, which I absolutely did not expect but it’s done very well and never feels uncomfortable or lewd. Philyaw writes with a breezy confidence that makes Secret Lives easy to zip though while still digesting the big questions she is asking about love, relationships and, perhaps most pressingly, freedom - what it looks like, and how her protagonists can reach it. A wonderful collection that leaves the reader with plenty of mull over. If the mark of a good short story is that you’d read a novel based on the same characters, I’ll be asking Deesha Philyaw to write a large number of novels ASAP.

Deesha Philyaw’s award-winning, debut collection’s centred on Black women in contemporary America. Philyaw draws from her own experiences, all of her characters shaped in some way by a culture of churchgoing and growing up in the South. At the same time, her pieces feature women who’re trying to work out their own identities and ways of living, how to live free from the constraints and the conventions of their upbringing. Their voices are clear, even at their most hesitant. Philyaw’s stories focus in on intimate relationships, from family dynamics to illicit affairs or the precarious bonds between parents and children, and above all they explore the pull of physical desire. “Snowfall” is a moving account of yearning for lost connections, narrated by LeeLee, whose decision to live openly with her girlfriend Rhonda, means she’s effectively exiled from her old home in the South. In “Eula” a woman’s inability to imagine a life other than the one she’s been conditioned to expect, leaves her unable to move forward. In one of the strongest entries “Peach Cobbler” a young girl comes of age after a painful awakening. These are carefully-sculpted, insightful, slice-of-life narratives, some wry, some bittersweet, but always steering clear of neat or easy conclusions. As with any selection of short stories these vary in quality and force but there’s enough that’s memorable here to make this more than worthwhile reading.