Strangers : A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden

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. Belle reflects on her transformation from a shy, quiet girl, nicknamed Belle the Good to a powerful, brave, determined woman.

A 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.

Based on Belle s popular Modern Love essay, Was I Married to a Stranger?, this is the emotional and empowering memoir of self-discovery and what it means to finally be heard.