I don’t know,” he says, then yawns. “Sounds like a mystic’s take on fated love, and I don’t believe in fate.” If guilt gets the best of you, do no attempt to witness to me or invite me to church. Don’t ask me to repent, because I regret nothing. You can’t save me, because I’m not in peril.” Being very accessible and an easy read makes it even more impressive. I found myself wondering several times who is this woman who writes so well? I know when I post about short stories, I hear from a lot of people that they either can’t get into them or have never read any before. Some say they don't want to get invested in characters for such a short amount of time. I used to feel the same way until I discovered that in the right hands, short stories can be just as powerful as full-length novels.

In Eula, 40-year-old Caroletta rings in New Year’s Eve 1999 in a hotel two towns over with her childhood friend Eula, who definitely does not think of herself as gay and clings to the Christian ideal of saving herself for a good husband, a life goal Caroletta gave up on long ago, much to her lover’s surprise. Sex between women AIN'T NEVER BEEN SEXIER, Y'ALL, and I'm wishing, as I so often do, that I had been born gay, but, alas. . .Williams, John (2020-10-06). "National Book Awards Finalists Announced". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-10-22. Peach Cobbler,” arguably the most gripping story, follows the mother-daughter relationship between Olivia and her mother, who prepares a peach cobbler for God every Monday. Olivia soon reveals that it’s not God for whom her mother bakes the cobbler, but her married pastor, who she once believed was the deity until she saw his humanity for what it was—fallible. Olivia’s mother chooses to put all her energy in pleasing and loving this man at the cost of neglecting her daughter, who isn’t allowed to eat the cobbler. Watching her mother make the dessert, Olivia thinks: “I wanted to be those peaches. I longed to be handled by caring hands. And if I couldn’t, I wanted the next best thing: to make something so wonderful with my own hands.”

Before reading this book, I was likely to perceive “church ladies” as women who use the Bible to control or punish others, or who think of themselves as better than those Jesus is still working on. Philyaw portrays “church ladies” as real people struggling with morality like the rest of us, some for better, some for worse, but all human beings. Published by West Virginia University Press, the book became an unlikely finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. Tessa Thompson and HBO Max have optioned it for a planned film, with Philyaw writing the adaptation. I'm looking forward to it and her first novel.Every single one of these stories were flames! Every. Single. One. Not one of them fell below a four star rating for me. I especially loved:

He sighs. “Which is why I didn’t trip when you didn’t respond to my messages at first. I figured if you’d wanted me to leave you alone you would’ve said so. But you didn’t. Now I did trip a little when you ghosted me, but”—he shrugs and pulls you closer—“I figured you had your reasons.” Seem like saved folks don’t like to do anything but talk about being saved, complain about sin, and go to church. And church be boring as hell, so I just watch Sweet Sadie and think about her sexy body and her secret past.” I can highly recommend the audiobook. Janina Edwards performed this book like no other. It truly was a performance, not just a reading. It elevated the stories and brought me right into the characters’ worlds. a b Snowden, Jordan. "Book Review: Deesha Philyaw's The Secret Lives of Church Ladies". Pittsburgh City Paper . Retrieved 2020-10-18.You try to remember the last time a man made you a promise. You decide it doesn’t even matter. This man is making you one now. That’s what matters. In Peach Cobbler, a bright high school senior named Olivia accepts a job tutoring a classmate, the athlete son of the town pastor. Olivia knows the pastor well, having come home for many years to find him eating the prized peach cobbler her hardened mother bakes and listening to her mother entertain the married pastor in bed.

Full disclosure: I totally thought this was a nonfiction book until a friend read it. I saw it was getting an immense amount of praise but I just figured it was something I probably wouldn't read. But as soon as I found out it was a story collection I jumped on it and boy, am I glad I did! These stories are truly unforgettable.My mother’s peach cobbler was so good, it made God himself cheat on his wife,’ opens the story Peach Cobbler, a standout of the collection featuring a girl coming of age and faced with the infidelities of her mother and their preacher, and a ripe example of Philyaw’s excellence in tone and aim—and frequent and effective use of food in the stories. For God is everywhere in these stories, or at least those who use God to enforce their ideas of polite society on others. Each story is overflowing with guilt of ‘ how something can feel right and wrong at the same time,’ with characters simply wanting to occupy their own sexuality and desires but made to feel lesser than for them. This is particularly true in the multiple stories featuring lesbian relationships, such as in Snowfall. This story that starts with a young couple begrudgingly shoveling snow having moved to the midwest from Florida captured my heart as I myself had been shoveling snow moments before reading it and is one of the most tender stories in the collection despite the shadow of abandonment from mothers due to being in a relationship with another woman. On top of the many secrets in the sex lives of these characters, there also are what seem like superstitions, especially among their relatives — like the grandmother who dreams of fish and is then sure someone in her family is pregnant. What does that say about the influence of factors other than faith in the minds of some church ladies? Whether it's Jael from JAEL, Olivia from PEACH COBBLER, Leelee & Rhonda from SNOWFALL or even Lyra from HOW TO MAKE LOVE TO A PHYSICIST, it's different & stimulating versions of Women who have leapt to freedom who are either trying to convince other women to leap with them or who are at odds against the women who continue to walk this thin line. With its false sense of hope awaiting them at the end of it. All of this cemented my understanding of God as a twisted puppet master watching his creations bounce around, trapped and tangled up in tragedies for his amusement.’ The relationship between women and their mothers are also at the center of this collection,usually fraught with familial tension and often with the daughters being caregivers to their aging mothers such as in Not-Daniel and When Eddie Levert Comes’ The latter is especially effective as the daughter is merely called Daughter despite each other character having a name.