Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage

By Belle Burden

Book Overview

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "Burden's searing, probing memoir explores . . . what she learned about intimacy and her own spirit."--People​​

"A beautifully written instant classic. Strangers is gripping and heartbreaking and a must-read for every wife--and husband."--Graydon Carter

"Asks us to examine life's most perplexing questions: Can we see the invisible fault lines in a marriage or truly know the people closest to us?"--Lori Gottlieb

It was a great love story, one for the ages. The speed of our beginning and the speed of our ending felt like matching bookends. They both came out of nowhere. He wanted it, he wanted me. And then he didn't.

In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha's Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together--building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume.

In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through all of it, she is transformed. The discreet, compliant woman she once was--someone nicknamed "Belle the Good"--gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice.

With unflinching honesty and profound grace, Burden charts a path through heartbreak to show the power of a woman who refuses to give up on love. Strangers is a stunning, deeply moving, compulsively readable memoir heralding the arrival of a thrilling new literary talent.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593733312
• ISBN13: 9780593733318
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Dial Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Amazingly Honest & Well Written!

Because I also went through a divorce and was thrown away like a piece of garbage (after 25 years), I know that this was her being HONEST, but very KIND! If I were to write about that part of my life, I would ask her for her help! She is so eloquent with her words! I only put the book down 3 times because I had to. I hope she finds a wonderful guy like I did & remarries! Belle Burden is an Awesome writer & I cannot wait until she writes more!!! --- This book is a MUST READ, especially if you have gone through a divorce!