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    The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
    The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
    The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

    Written by Deesha Philyaw

    Narrated by Janina Edwards

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church's double standards and their own needs and passions.

    There is fourteen-year-old Jael, who has a crush on the preacher's wife. At forty-two, Lyra realizes that her discomfort with her own body stands between her and a new love. As Y2K looms, Caroletta's "same time next year" arrangement with her childhood best friend is tenuous. A serial mistress lays down the ground rules for her married lovers. In the dark shadows of a hospice parking lot, grieving strangers find comfort in each other.

    With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 29, 2020
    ISBN9781705268803
    The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
    Author

    Deesha Philyaw

    Deesha Philyaw is an American author, columnist and public speaker. Her debut book, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award, the 2020/2021 Story Prize, and the 2020 LA Times Book Prize for First Fiction and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. It is currently being adapted for television by HBO Max. Deesha is also a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and will be the 2022-2023 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.

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    Reviews for The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

    4.5/5

    925 ratings48 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      A quick read, chock-full of Southern Black lady goodness in the form of witty sayings, bucket loads of shade, and the occasional Bible verse. Some stories will have you clutching your pearls, but I loved this book so much! There are a lot of strong Black female characters. I didn't even realise it was a short story collection until I reached the 3rd story.

      My favourite was "How to Make Love to a Physicist" just 'cause I love cheesy romantic stories. I also really liked "Dear Sister" because you could just imagine the real-life sisters with their different personalities.

      One of the quotes that I noted from the book is "...a family of women and we had the worst time with men! The good men died young, and the terrible ones stayed just long enough to make you wish they would die, God forgive me" (I culled the quote from the audiobook, so the punctuation might be off).

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      One of the best books I read this year. It is a compilation of well crafted stories with writing that held serious emotional impact. The author truly deserves all the awards she's getting for this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Full of beautiful stories. Short stories. I would have loved to read more about each and every single one of them, but, well... They would each need their own book, which is not a bad idea ?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Amazing read from start to finish. Most of the stories featured sounded so familiar, the tales of black woman. I will definitely recommend this to everyone I know.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I was not able to get into this book, it left a lot to be desired.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I'm lost on what this book was about. I never found a plot. I love the narrator's voice. But I don't get what this book was about. The title didn't really help.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      Interesting. There's a huge gap in time from chapters 1-7 and 8-9. The ending was just that, the end. No lead into it was ending.

      I was also expecting more stories of church ladies. Not just one.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Clutching my pearls throughout this book. The 1st story was clearly Eula deluding herself about the the relationship she had with Caroletta. That last remark at the end of the story made me blush. Not Daniel was a lesson in guilt trips. Dear Sister reminded me of a song lyric “Papa was a rolling stone, wherever he laid his hat was is home….”. Peach Cobbler was tragically sad and a situation I have seen in real life. I didn’t get Snowfall. How to Make Love to a Physicist was a lesson on how to shoot your self in the foot. Zael was the most disturbing- really
      Scary young chick. The Baker made me wonder if this was the girl from Peach Cobbler. The way she lays down the law, truly demonstrates she has past trauma to be so cold. This is actually my favorite. Tony is the best listener reminded me of a book by Tamara Prosper called The Elders. All in all typical holy rollers.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wow, what a ride! I was captivated from beginning to end.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent book.it will make you laugh & cry. Read it two days
    • 3/5
      Short-stories about black church-women depicting clashes between their faith, the church structures and the lives they lead.
    • 5/5
      This book covered so much in such a short amount of time & gave dignity to the genre of trauma unique queer black girls. This was a much needed read & I will most certainly recommend it.
    • 5/5
      refreshing new stories and perspectives love the way it was written.
    • 5/5
      Each story captivated me so much! The emotions were so palpable and often relatable and many characters felt comfortingly familiar. I only wish it were longer because I was sad to say goodbye!
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. ! The audio was amazing !!! So happy Some women in my book club started reading it !! Wow. The stories was so good. & the woman reading made it seem as if I was watching it on tv ! Great job.
    • 4/5
      So good and funny but poignant and a quick read
    • 5/5
      Loved this book so much listened to it all in a day. I think it’s great how religion and beliefs are questioned by sexuality and desire in the book! I would definitely recommend it, and well done to the audiobook narrator too.
    • 5/5
      The Tea was especially delectable. Didn’t want this audiobook to end.
      Sequel,?
    • 5/5
      Easy. Refreshing.My favourite is definitely Peach Cobbler. Beautiful writing! Don’t let the cover put you off, trust me!
    • 5/5
      Amazing read . Love it so much thanks Scribd ❤️
    • 5/5
      Loved it! Great storytelling. Fantastic narration. Humorous, incisive, and brilliant.
    • 5/5
      Well written, funny, and thought provoking. I commend the author and narrator. Great short stories of the lives of "church ladies."
    • 5/5
      I loved everything about this book, so real like the stories just come alive off the pages.
    • 5/5
      This book is Captivating! Every chapter pulled me in a different direction. Forced me to have conversations with myself about things I've experienced in similar situations. The author was able to reach multiple audiences in my opinion and that's difficult to do often without causing one to lose interest. Cant wait for the next one!
    • 5/5
      The secret lives of church ladies! Whew ? and boy there were some secrets ? . These ladies had stories to tell in such a short amount of time! Stories that kept me hanging, stories that made me curse, stories that made me laugh. These stories is the real life some people are scared to talk about and Deesha nailed it! I mean she killed it! The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a good time and you sure need to experience the good time!
    • 4/5
      Wow!!! This book was "juicy" from the beginning to the end!! I enjoyed this book to the fullest. Went in not knowing what to expect.
    • 4/5
      I loved every story told!! The narration kept me interested.
    • 5/5
      I loved these stories, I will be read this again!!
    • 5/5
      Great narration! I loved every story. It was easy to follow and kept me hooked. Listened to this audiobook in 3 short days. Couldn’t put it down!
    • 5/5
      What a delight these stories were! I LOVED all of them. Every single one. Such lovely slice of life tales of black women - of all ages and backgrounds. So real and raw.

      The narrator of the audiobook is stellar- and I would 100% recommend listening to the audiobook. I’m also going buy a physical copy and re-read all these stories over time. Yes, that’s how much I loved them!