We didn’t know what to expect with The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. It turned out to be a book of short stories and many of them we didn’t want to end. That’s when you know a short story is good when you want it to keep going. You want to see where these characters end up. That’s how this book feels.

Nine stories. Nine Black women. They show up, flaws and all to detail the sometimes complex relationship between the church and the Black community. The book opens with the story of two women who are lifelong best friends. They’re in their 40s and feel like they should be on the fast track to settling down. Well, at least one of the women feels that way. 

At some point, their friendship turned sexual. One of the ladies wants to move beyond friendship and the other wants to find and marry her good, churchgoing man and raise a family. Obviously, they are at a crossroads. 
Another story tells of a middle school teacher who embraces therapy. No big deal, right? Well, it’s still a big deal in communities of color and in the church. She’s trying to work her way through fears related to her mother. She’s struggling to allow herself to be loved as a result.

Then there’s the story of a girl coming to terms with her mother being the mistress of the Pastor. Her mother is cold toward her but makes a peach cobbler every week just for the Pastor when he visits for one of their trysts. She won’t allow her daughter to have any and won’t tell her how to make it. Her mother even sets the daughter up to tutor the Pastor’s son at his home. Spoiler: It doesn’t end well. 

There are no perfect people in this book. That’s exactly the point. There’s so much that goes on in the private lives of people. What we see is what they want us to see. People don’t showcase the things they struggle with or the things they fear won’t be accepted.