The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman

For Scharisse Freeman, success comes at a cost but is it a price she's willing to pay? From the multi-prize winning author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES (stories), the decadent delicious and daring debut of the year.

'Funny and juicy and sexy' Samantha Irby

**'Pure audacious joy!' Bonnie Garmus

'This novel is so alive!' Raven Leilani

'I laughed, I cried, I got turned on! Philyaw has created a heroine you can't help but root for, and a book you can't help but love.' Rufi Thorpe

'This book is so damn good. Sexy, messy, funny AF...it slaps with a perfectly manicured open hand.' Nikesha Elise Williams

A Most Anticipated Book of year by PEN America, Lit Hub, BookPage, and Ms. Magazine**

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'I have no intention of sticking to the script...'

Meet Scharisse Freeman, the Beyoncé of the megachurch world: bold, unapologetic, ambitious, very much her own woman.

For the same reasons, she has always been a pariah among the other preacher's wives (aka First Ladies). From the moment she ditched her humble roots and married a megachurch pastor fifteen years her senior, she's been labelled too brash by the First Ladies and too holy by her estranged childhood friend, Petra. Schar doesn't have a lot of allies, but that hasn't stopped her from building an empire spanning from books to branded products, and living a comfortable life her mother could only have dreamed of.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Schar gets the validation she's always dreamed of: a coveted invitation to participate in one of the biggest dates in the megachurch world - the First Lady USA pageant. But as the competition nears, a scandal breaks and her carefully curated life threatens to implode...
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*'Sexy, shocking and funny as hell.… Deesha Philyaw has written a love letter to the women in this world." Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women*

'This kind of book-making should not be humanly possible with first novels. This one is special. Like, forever special.' Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

'Trust me: your jaw will be on the floor many, many times.' Mateo Askaripour, author of Black Buck

'Unputdownable.' John Vercher, author of *Devil is Fine***