The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Fiction
What it is: A collection of literary short stories that examines the lives of contemporary African American women, focusing on spirituality, secularity, relationships, sexuality, body image, and self-determination. The stories are deeply moving, and characters are portrayed with scorching honesty. If you don’t like short stories, give this collection a try anyway—the writing is so good it might convert you. “Snowfall” is filled with gorgeous bittersweet memories of life in the South, and “How to Make Love to a Physicist” is perfect storytelling.
Of special interest: The story “Peach Cobbler” was inspired by a prompt to write about food, and to kick off with a fantastic first line, as well as Philyaw’s childhood confusion while growing up in the Church—she thought the preachers were God. That first line—“My mother made a peach cobbler so good, it made God himself cheat on his wife.”
Book buzz: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies was a finalist for The National Book Awards and is a Los Angeles Times Book Awards finalist for first fiction. It is also the first book to win both The Story Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
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