The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

By: Deesha Philyaw

Narrated by: Janina Edwards

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 14-year-old Jael, who has a crush on the preacher's wife. At 42, 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.

©2020 Deesha Philyaw (P)2020 Tantor

Fantastic quick listen. Can't wait for HBOMax

Highly recommend and looking forward to Tessa Thompson's show on HBOMax in the near future.

Loved every minute of this audiobook

Not sure if it’s the author’s voice, phenomenal, evocative writing or these narratives, some gut-wrenching, some hilarious and others plain tragic, yet hopeful. Either way this series of short stories grabbed and touched me like no other has. Top marks from me!

The secrets we keep for the sake of looking all out together.

So I ended the year with reading this one. I met her last summer at the MS book festival. Chillllllleeee let me tell you something about these church ladies!! The book comes out the gate swinging.

This is a collection of short stories that were well developed and written. Deesha brought to light some everyday life stories that are human experiences. My favorite one is Peach Cobbler.

Surprised Me

This one is a compilation of stories and they all complete themselves beautifully. I enjoyed this one from beginning to end. Some of the stories (1-2) I didn’t really find as entertaining as the others but I have listened to this book twice so it’s still worth it in my book.

Interesting perspective

Story line was intriguing, easy to follow. Word play was different. First book I’ve listened to all the way through.