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Please join us for our second Eating + Reading series and a special evening with award winning Author Deesha Philyaw!She'll be reading from and signing her latest nook "The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman" and in conversation with Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames, Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University.
A special Tea House Sunday Supper will be available!
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
LINK TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT: http://www.TippleAndRose.com/deesha-event
ABOUT THE BOOK:
From the moment Scharisse Freeman ditched her humble roots and married a megachurch pastor fifteen years her senior, she’s been labeled too brash and too “of the world” by church folks who grudgingly accepted her into their fold, and too holy by her estranged childhood bestie Petra. Schar doesn’t have many allies, but that hasn’t stopped her from building an enviable business empire spanning books to clothing to branded products, and living the comfortable life her husband’s power affords her.
On the eve of her 40th birthday, Schar gets the final bit of validation she’s always dreamt of: a coveted invitation to participate in the First Lady USA pageant. This is her chance to be accepted by the other pastors’ wives—First Ladies—who are “like Jesus’ disciples if they had been a group of mean girls.” Finally, blissfully, the ice between Schar and the other First Ladies begins to thaw.
But as the pageant nears, a sensational scandal breaks with Schar at its center, and her carefully curated life implodes. Schar faces down shame and terrible secrets from her childhood and is reminded that in the eyes of the church, optics can matter more than the truth.
Unflinchingly funny, frank, and packed with surprising turns, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman exults in the luscious, messy pleasure of finally feeling free.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Story Prize, the LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. Deesha is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow, a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and co-host of two podcasts, Ursa Short Fiction (with Dawnie Walton) and Reckon True Stories (with Kiese Laymon).
She is currently at work developing TV shows based on her short fiction.
Deesha’s debut novel, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman, is forthcoming from Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, in September 2026.
EVENT INFO:
Space is limited.
Vegan, Gluten Free, and Vegetarian options will be available with prior notice.
18+ event
BYOB (for 21+)
Tea and non-alcoholic cocktails and wine will be available for purchase
Wheelchair accessible
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Event venue
210 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ, United States, New Jersey 08542
Tickets
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