Strangers
A Memoir of Marriage
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 15 Jan 2026
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 IN VOGUE, BBC, NEW YORK TIMES, W MAGAZINE, TOWN & COUNTRY
'A beautifully written eulogy for the loss of a relationship' Joyce Carol Oates
'Beautiful... devastating ... Strangers reads with all the momentum and colour of water-tight literary fiction' British Vogue
How do we go on when a loved one betrays us?
On a chilly day in March of 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, Belle Burden’s husband of twenty years announced, with no prior warning, that he was leaving her. His decision shocked Belle to her core: she believed he was a happy man, a committed partner, and a devoted father to their three children. She thought he was a man who had settled into the life he had always wanted: a successful career, summers spent at their beloved home on Martha’s Vineyard, lots of tennis. Overnight, he transformed from her steady companion into a stranger.
As she pieces her life together in the wake of a loss she had never imagined coming, she finds she is much stronger than she ever expected. Exploring the transformation of a shy, quiet girl, nicknamed ‘Belle the Good’ to a powerful, brave, determined woman who has learned to use her voice to expose the patriarchal structures that have forced women to be discreet and compliant for far too long, Strangers is a must-read memoir of self-discovery.
‘Examines how we view intimacy, how the people closest to us can change without us knowing, and how to move forward in the wake of devastation.’ W Magazine
‘Burden’s sharp, personal writing brings readers deep into her unthinkable circumstances and offers a promise to anyone suffering: you can make it to the other side.’ Town & Country
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Immigration lawyer Burden traces the exhilarating start and excruciating dissolution of her two-decade marriage in this bruising debut. Dividing the narrative into five acts, Burden recounts how, during the Covid pandemic, her husband of 20 years abruptly walked out on her and their three children without explanation. After he left, Burden desperately searched for answers, blaming herself and relitigating their idyllic courtship, looking for signs of his unhappiness in his occasional coldness and passing moments of rigidity. As her husband's communication grew less frequent and he refused to see their children, she came to accept that she may have never truly known him. Then he initiated vicious divorce proceedings, transforming from "a benign stranger wandering out of my life" to "an adversary, determined to win." After the divorce was finalized, Burden published a "Modern Love" essay in the New York Times, breaking an emotional dam within her and allowing her to finally move on from her recursive cycle of self-blame. With unsparing emotional clarity, Burden examines the often-baffling ways relationships can fall apart, and charts a path for people looking to reassemble their own lives. It's a gut punch.
