A beautiful collection of tender, yearning and passionate stories about the lives of Black women and girls. All stories managed to create that magic of a great short story - a glimpse at a life that lives on beyond the pages. Deesha Philyaw has a real talent for characterisation and I can't wait to read what she writes next. Eula was my personal favourite - tragic and heartbreaking yet still sexy. A great collection.

Before reading this book I had no idea what to expect from it, but I was surprised in a good way. I loved the writing style and it really made me curious to know more about each character. All the short stories were lovely but some of them touched me more than the others and for some of these stories I feel like I want more, like what happened or what decision did these women make.

Deesha Philyaw’s collection of nine short stories about Black women gives insight in a life behind closed doors, rules unknown to many of us, a secret double life nobody sees or wants to see. The book was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction and was awarded, among others, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Los Angeles Book prize. All stories centre around Black women and Christianity highlighting contradictions and hypocrisy and also a group of women who accept their place given to them by powerful men. They all endure the double discrimination of being Black and being a woman – until they don’t anymore.

What most women share is the fact that they lead a kind of double life they are forced into. For the outside word, they dress decently, lead a God abiding life, do not speak up and care for their children. Yet, at home, behind the closed door, among themselves, they speak freely, they know that even the clergymen have bodily needs they fulfil. They are not perfect, often far from, but they try to make the best of it and teach their daughters what they need to know about life and its double-standards.

The variety of women we get to know is large, from homosexual spinsters still searching for husbands, over half-sisters mourning their always unfaithful father, to a young girl who finally comes to understand that how easily you can be trapped in a situation where wen exert power over you and your body.

The author captures the decisive moment when desires and religious rules collide. They need to cope with contradictions, build their lives around it, always threatened by the verdict of the public and the parish. They are never free, not even those who try to flee from the south, who work and study hard for a better life - ultimately, it all comes back to them.

The tone is funny at times, desperate and harsh at others, always reflecting the characters’ moods on the one hand, which, on the other, will often not leave their house or even their body. The collection shows a life hidden, a life in the shadow of big and strong men, a life worth narrating.

"The Secret Lives of Church Ladies" by Deesha Philyaw is a great collection of short stories, centring Black women and their experiences of love, sexuality, queerness, familial relations and identity. The stories are very intimate, at times raw, emotional and truly engaging.

I found Philyaw's writing very sensual. She has a unique talent of using her words to create a world the readers can fully immerse in.

I’m going to be raving about The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw to everyone I know. It has swooped in at the end of the year to be one of the best short story collections I’ve read in 2021. I think she’s particularly good at writing about love and all its bruises. All the stories are great but my favourites were Eula, Snowfall, and How To Make Love To A Physicist.

You don’t need me to tell you that this award-winning book is excellent, but I will anyway: I read it all in one sitting, loved every story, and went back to read a couple. Highly recommended!

secret lives of church ladies is a compelling short story collection about the lives of black women. it looks at loneliness, intimacy, mother-daughter relationships, and patriarchy (in marriage and in church). i really liked these stories, especially (just like everyone else) the peach cobbler story, although the book wasn’t quite what i expected - i love a church book, and i was expecting a bit more grappling with faith, when really this collection uses the social structure of the black church as a connecting thread, not the scene of the action itself. overall i really liked the breadth of these stories, and the writing was clear and engaging.

I could read all of these short stories as full length novels. I don't think I've loved a short story collection as much as this. I got so caught up in the beautiful writing style, that majority of the endings surprised me because I wasn't trying to guess it like I usually do. I want to read this book often to keep the amazing scenes inside my head. Peach Cobbler, How To Make Love to a Physicist and Jael are my top three!

I loved this book. Great short stories! The depth of meaning in each story is subtle, the treatment that some of the ‘church ladies’ deal out to others is anything but Christian and highlights their own inner torments and demons.
Really great read.

Each of Philyaw's short stories has the potential to be turned into a full novel; Philyaw's prose and voice is distinct, delicate and textured, whilst the stories themselves are absolutely well-structured.

How great is this book which tells stories of the reality of life in USA churchgoing black women’s lives .
The book strips bare the stereotype of your bible quoting matriarchs and describes carefully and delightfully candidly the lives of a selection of women .There are stories of lesbian relationships ,of adulterous relationships and of families struggling with care of elderly relatives with dementia
The characters are well defined believable people and the difficulties and triumphs are treated with kind compassion making the book an uplifting life affirming read
The book is firmly routed in American life but as a Uk reader I can still recognise stark similarities between these characters and people I know
The prose glows beautifully and is an easy comfortable read .the book is quite short
My one negative comment may I think be sorted by the time the book is published .I found it hard on this electronic version to know when one story was finished and another one begun .this could easily be sorted by chapter headings and formatting .I had read very little of the blurb before I got stuck into the book and wasn’t fully aware that I was reading a selection of short stories so kept thinking I was still reading about a character from the last section

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. The stories focus on Black woman and their relationships, intertwined with the Church. These Ladies are not your stereotypical church ladies, they have history, complexities and strength.

My favourite was the story "When Eddie Levert Comes". There was so much emotion and social commentary in such a short story. It shows the affect of how relationships change when a daughter is the carer for her Mother, as the Son can not cope with it.

I look forward to reading more Deesha Philyaw.

Thank you NetGalley and Pushkin Press. One for an eARC of the book.

Sometimes short story collections contain stories that are obviously meant to be the main feature of the book, with the other stories in the collection pale in comparison. This can understandably detract from the reading experience, especially if the “main feature” appears very early on in the book. This doesn’t happen in this book, which is cohesive and absorbing throughout.

Although it is told in first-person narrative, this book has none of the awkwardness of some novels where the protagonist is too acutely aware that they are the narrator, so it ends up with them stating their feelings and the reasons behind these feelings. This tends to destroy any of the mood built up from the plot development, which can make the protagonist a chore to read about. In this book, the tone is conversational. It’s casual so it feels as if the reader is sitting right there with the ladies, listening to them as they share their secrets, joys, and sorrows. It’s also intimate, so the reader is also partly omniscient, capable of watching the events unfold and getting a better grasp of what is going on compared to the characters, but not being able to do anything to help.

In an illuminating PEN America interview with the author, the author mentioned that “My fiction is my attempt to tell the truth about my life and the lives of women and girls who look like me, who struggle to get free of the same things I’ve struggled to free myself from, who seek after our own pleasure and satisfaction in a world that tells us we should be content with something less—something different than what we long for.” I believe that The Secret Lives of Church Ladies lives up to the author’s attempt as the stories delve into the lives of the different characters, who all have glorious and complex personalities and values so that the humanity of the characters truly shines through.

One of the things I liked best in the book were the descriptions of cheerful domestic life, of the saltiness of crabs bubbling in a pot filling the air, watching TV together while linking hands with the elders of the family, and so on. The descriptions were comforting and sparked a good bout of nostalgia. Although I don’t share the same experiences as the ladies in the book, the nostalgia of remembering good childhood memories may be a mutual feeling.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. It reveals the bittersweetness of life and love, the comfort of the soft moments and the harshness of rejection and other difficult aspects of life told from the perspectives of black women and girls. Reading this book was frankly an intriguing experience, and I'd highly recommend it.

This was such an insightful deep dive into the world of black women and girls who choose to fulfil their deepest desires. This book consumed me whole. It redefines what the church is to some people - not somewhere for healing and belief, but a source of guilt, serving to cleanse them of their longing. Every character felt extremely vivid, their personality shining through with every sentence. It made me feel like we'd just met and felt safe enough to overshare with each other. Some stories were written wildly different to each other, but the style suited each one perfectly. This is a must-read for anyone wrestling with what they have grown to believe they shouldn't long for.

I so enjoyed this short-story collection. It’s such a great form for storytelling and I don’t read enough of them…

Each one of these stories drew me in from the get-go and had me rooting for the characters (or against them in some cases). These are the stories of women who follow their inner desires instead of trying to live up to societal (and/or church expectations).

Questions of sexism, racism, class-elitism and religious fervour are addressed as well as family dynamics and the role of the church.

There are stories of love and of loss, of neglect and obsession, some that had me tearing up and others (that final one!!!) that had me gasp in surprise and then whoop for the (naughty) protagonist. Such a beautiful and joyful read.

I've found myself on a short story kick for the last while and have been reading both individually-published stories as well as a whole bunch of short story collections. I often find that the collections are a bit of a mixed bag, with some good stories and some not-so-good, some that touch me and some that don't, some characters that will stay with me and some who are forgettable, so that my average rating for these collections frequently ends up somewhere in the middle of the stars.

Not this one. This one is excellent, all the way through.

Every story is different; sometimes they're funny, sometimes sad, sometimes poignant, sometimes disconcerting, often a little bit (or more) subversive, but always richly-detailed and beautifully-written. The characters each have their own distinct voices, but each is so beautifully nuanced, and so real, with their own convictions, passions, frailties and insecurities. The relationships - with lovers, siblings, parents - are explored in astute and sometimes surprising ways. The writing is beautiful in that way that feels like it was effortless, even though you know it's far too good to have been easy.

My personal favourites are How to Make Love to a Physicist, and Instructions for Married Christian Husbands - but every single story in this book was more than worth the time it took to read. I did not expect this book to be such a delight, but it is definitely one of my favourite books of the year.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this memorable collection, and to the author for writing it!

Consisting of nine short stories about Black women, this book is bold, energetic, fresh and full of memorable characters. My favourite stories were Eula, Peach Cobbler and How to Make Love to a Physicist - all stunning. I thought the last three stories lacked a bit of polish in comparison to the ones that came before, but still good, and overall it’s a super collection.

Sexy, and as tasty as the peach cobblers and crab-bakes in its pages. For fans of Brit Bennett and Jacqueline Woodson, Philyaw's church ladies are frank, bawdy and frequently lustful.

A rebellious young girl named after a Biblical killer longs for the preacher's wife. Two parish spinsters get together once a year for a night of passion and potato salad.
Five sisters write a letter to the half-sister they've never met. A demented old woman longs for a singer from her youth, while her daughter just wants her to know how much damage she's done.
A lesbian couple from the South struggle with the snow in their new town, and an artistic woman learns to love her body before giving to to a physicist she meets at a conference.

I LOVED these stories and will be first in line to buy the print book and more from this author!

A brilliant collection of juicy short stories about black women, their place in their community, their dreams, desires and their very different ideas of being good. Each story is unique and memorable in its own way - reading them feels daring, joyous and liberating.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for an Advance Review Copy.

I often struggle with short stories. It's such a difficult medium to get right and with so little room for error. Deesha Philyaw really shows how it's done, with a lovely deft touch.

Her stories centre on a variety of Black women and their relationships to both the Church and marriage. These women self-possessed and full of strengths that the people and institutions around them don't recognise or take for granted and Philyaw Laura bare the abuse and exploitation they often suffer as a result of their colour and their gender. The narrow pathways of the church and patriarchal family structure cast out the women in three stories who love other women.

Each story is a microcosm of heartbreak but because each of the women is both ordinary and so remarkable the vital sparks of hope, intimacy and love are what really shine through