The instant #1 New York Times bestseller — born from the viral Modern Love column that stopped readers around the world.
“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.
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.
Praise
“Riveting… examines the very nature of intimacy.” — Joyce Carol Oates
“Burden's searing, probing memoir explores… what she learned about intimacy and her own spirit.” — People
“A beautifully written instant classic… 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, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
About the author
Belle Burden holds a BA from Harvard College and a law degree from New York University. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, where a version of this story first ran in the Modern Love column. She lives with her children in New York City. Strangers is her first book.
Perfect for readers of
Lori Gottlieb's Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Elizabeth Gilbert, Miranda July's All Fours — and every book club that wants a memoir people cannot stop arguing about.
