I liked how both stories highlighted the ways in which our histories influence our relationships, as well as our agency to change course even when it feels hard. those who aren't going to let religion get in the way of their own truth (for lack of a one-word opposite). This collection contains nine short stories focusing on Southern Black women who attend or attended church, but defy conservative religious norms. In Instructions For Married Christian Husbands, a bakery owner offers a blunt, no-dicking-around how-to guide for married Christian men on how to conduct themselves in an extramarital affair with her. All the stories are told through the point of view of Black women, and most of them are filled with quiet rage.

She described how difficult it is for southerners to come to grips with snow and cold when they live in the north. They get all tangled up when enslaved and formerly enslaved people adapted to Christianity and folded those practices in. But truly all of them had astute observations of womanhood, complex relationships between mothers and daughters, love and the church. Despite being rejected and nearly disowned by her churchgoing mother due to her sexuality, Arletha’s thoughts turn to home.

Throughout these stories we constantly watch women be good caregivers, good lovers, good people with gifts to share, and see them be squandered by a patriarchal society. For those of you who missed reading this book, and have an Audible account - the voice narrator, Janina Edwards is excellent! My favourite stories are Dear Sister, How to Make Love to a Physicist, When Eddie Levert Comes, Snowfall and Eula, but to be honest, every story is a gem as each weaves its own particular spell. As Caroletta puts it so succinctly as she debates her friend-and-sometimes-lover in “Eula”: “Do you think God wants you, or anybody, to go untouched for decades and decades? These are Intimate narratives of black women about their relationships with their mothers, sisters, lovers, their faith.

Most of the other stories I felt more distance from, either because of the story's length or a more detached writing style. Even then, she was keenly aware of the tensions between being human and being holy, between what women wanted and needed and what was expected of them. I love the theme of love and how it was executed, from those who are waiting for their love to arrive, to those not knowing what to do when they arrive. These female protagonists feel so lively, so real, so three-dimensional, and the convincing way the author crafts facets of human interaction is really a spectacle to behold. In it are nine stories that cross generations and families, tales of Black women whose lives are a mixture of religion, sex, love and grief.And it is shown to be often hypocritical and shallow, such as when Daughter watches all the church ladies abandon their mother after she converts. But I bet when she was 14 like me, she used to have a big Afro and wear tight bellbottoms, like Thelma on Good Times. Thank you, National Book Awards; this would probably have flown completely under my radar had it not been a finalist for their fiction award. In January 2021, it was announced that Tessa Thompson's newly formed production company, Viva Maude, had picked up the collection to be adapted for television. She received a BA in economics from Yale University and an MA in teaching from Manhattanville College.

Here, she takes aim at conversations surrounding religion and science, the tenuous relationships between overbearing Black mothers and daughters, body politics, and fear in dating. 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. What does that say about the influence of factors other than faith in the minds of some church ladies? I hope people see those things as the ways in which I am not bashing the church, that I still have fond memories of those kinds of traditions and that the church in and of itself isn’t the problem and so there’s a lot of good.Baker observed that while efforts to champion diverse books exist at all levels of publishing, the industry remains white-dominant.

So, I say all of this to say that sometimes wheels are set in motion long before the spark is manifest. 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. Philyaw explained that she herself grew up in a church community, and that the women she met there have gravely influenced her ideas of what being a woman means. Her criticisms flow smoothly with the text while adding much-needed perspectives to the overall social narratives.Meanwhile, Daughter puts her life on hold to care for an aging Mama who anticipates the arrival of Eddie Levert every day. The collection was rejected for publication by several publishers and presses, including the Big Five, before it was acquired by West Virginia University Press. Every Monday, God arrives at young Olivia’s home and eats peach cobbler at the kitchen table before sneaking off into the bedroom with her mother.