Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” was rejected by major publishing houses before being picked up by West Virginia University Press. The book would go on to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Story Prize, an LA Times Book Prize for first fiction, and it was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. Now, Philyaw, who is developing her work for the screen and hosting two podcasts, returns with her long-awaited debut novel, “The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman.” Here she responds to the Q&A via email and shares insights into the writing of the novel.
Q. Congratulations on the publication of “The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman.” Would you please describe the novel for readers who haven’t had the chance to read it yet?
Thank you! The novel follows Scharisse Freeman, who comes from a humble background but lives a very charmed life, having married a powerful and popular megachurch pastor. Her world is upended when a sensational scandal breaks and secrets from her past come to light.
Sign up for our free newsletter about books, authors, reading and more
Q. What makes the church so rich a subject for you?
For better or worse, the evangelical church’s teachings were foundational for me as a child and into my adolescence. I didn’t always have the language for the contradictions and wrongs I observed, or for the doubts and questions I had back then. But I know now that I was troubled by the religious hypocrisy, abuse, and gendered double standards I witnessed or experienced, all of which have their roots, as the church itself does, in patriarchy and White supremacy.
So I carried my concerns and unspoken questions into adulthood such that when I began writing nearly 30 years ago, I recalled the women and girls of my youth, those in and outside of the church, who bore the brunt of the church at its worst. There’s often so much for us former and current church girls to unlearn, to heal from, particularly around sex. And I was, and still am, drawn to imagining and writing stories about how women get free in this regard.
Q. You’ve been thinking about the character Scharisse Freeman for a long time; is that correct?
Yes. I started the earliest drafts of her story in 2006.
Q. In “The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman,” you play with the form of the novel by using script-like dialogue, footnotes and emails. Can you talk about your approach to writing the book?
I play with form every chance I get, and in “True Confessions,” so many opportunities presented themselves. I didn’t include the forms when I outlined the novel; they hadn’t yet come to mind. But when I got to those moments while drafting the story, they just felt appropriate, organic, to show up as they did in the narrative. The forms are really a map of how my brain works, how I think, the little asides and detours that are always skipping along beside the main narrative of my thoughts. Scharisse is the same way.
Plus, I get bored easily, and the shifts in form allow me to entertain myself and hold my own interest. From a craft perspective, the different forms are unique ways to reveal character, capitalize on the setting, present backstory, and move the story forward.
22 new books coming in October 2026 to add to your reading list
Q. It’s probably not shocking to say that people enjoy sex and comedy, but a lot of novels don’t include much of either. Were you ever tempted to write your book in a different way?
The sex was always there, but I decided to make the novel satirical at the 14-year mark, in 2020. Originally, Scharisse was very earnest, self-pitying, and passive. I didn’t like that. Leaning into satire, playing with the pageantry, performance, and optics of Black church culture as embodied in the role of the first lady — this gave me the perfect means to make Scharisse less earnest, more real, more self-determining, and more fun to write, while still confronting the tough issues around the church’s failings.
Q. When we last spoke in 2022, you told me that you are “doing what Toni Morrison told us to do, which is to use our power to empower someone else.” Can you talk about how that philosophy has guided you and your work?
It would be so easy to just put my head down and do my work and not think about how other writers are faring in the publishing industry. But instead, I try to mentor, formally and informally, answer questions, make introductions, share opportunities, and also blurb, as much as I am able.
As far as my work, I’m guided more in terms of how I work than what I write. I see myself as part of literary communities, some large, some small, some very personal, some strictly professional. But in all cases, I operate from an ethic of care and community; I don’t see fellow writers as competition.
Q. Are there some authors or books you’d like to recommend?
I’ll recommend one that I’m currently reading to blurb, Monica West’s “Light the Way,” and one that I just finished and blurbed, Dawnie Walton’s “These Girls Out Here.” Both are these authors’ sophomore novels, and both are terrific.
Q. What’s your ideal book or comfort read?
Something smart, irreverent, and fictional. I’m still laughing and thinking about Andie Davis’ 2024 debut novel, “Let Me Liberate You.”
Q. What’s a question you wish someone would ask you about this book?
I welcome more questions about Petra, Schar’s best friend. I love Schar, but Petra’s consistently been my favorite character from the outset. She’s deeply principled, but also deeply hilarious and [does not care what anyone else thinks]. I love that. She’s not at all religious, but she behaves more like Christ than any of the Christians in my novel.
Q. Would you tell us something about your book that no one knows?
I finished the final, final draft of this book while sitting in the lobby of a hotel in my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida.
Map: 100 Southern California independent bookstores to visit in 2026