In this stunning departure from her mystery writing, Penny Mickelbury’s collection of stories God’s Will and Other Lies, attends to the lives of Black women, mostly aging and elderly, all determined to face life with strength and grace.

A nearly blind woman is determined to venture out into the world alone, and must face the consequences of her travels. A woman estranged from her community ponders the meaning of hearsay and its devastating consequences. A middle-aged woman leaves the danger of the city only to find it lurking in her own backyard. And in the novella, “Into the Fire,” Mickelbury follows the life of a southern family as they strive for success amidst the violence and uncertainty of 1960s Detroit.  

In beautiful and exacting prose, Mickelbury gives voice to an often-overlooked coterie of women in this superb collection of fiction.