The Secret Lives of Church Ladies- Blog Tour

 

Author: Deesha Philyaw 

Publishing Date: 5th May 2022

Publisher: Pushkin Press 

Many thanks to the publishing team for my digital copy and a spot on the blog tour

Blurb 

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.

There is fourteen-year-old Jael, who nurses a crush on the preacher's wife; the mother who bakes a sublime peach cobbler every Monday for her date with the married Pastor; and Eula and Caroletta, single childhood friends who seek solace in each other's arms every New Year's Eve. 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.

My thoughts

I read this book a while ago and it is a fantastic read. 

I didn't realise the whole book encompasses of short stories. So I wasn't initially sure about how well the short chapters would portray but it was actually really fun to read snippets of lives and desires.  I really liked that they were diverse and brought something different to the book. Some were utterly hilarious to read and the titles for each were great. 

You can read the emotion coming through from some and it wanted me to learn about  some chapter than others. As fun as some were it also came along with complex relationships, dynamics within different communities, hypocrisy, loss, stereotypes and misogyny. 

It was a quick read but each story was wonderfully crafted with a good balance of dark subject points, humour and passion. It has a mixed bag and some stories may resonate more with people. 

Well worth a read and I enjoyed it.