January 2026

I had the pleasure of meeting Belle Burden at a publisher event in November. After she told us her story, which is detailed in STRANGERS, I immediately requested a prerelease audio download. I love listening to memoirs on audio. After finishing it, I would share the book’s opening with friends, and they all said that it sounded like a really good novel. Then I would tell them that it’s a memoir.

So what did they react to?

In the first week of the pandemic, while Belle and her family were staying at their home on Martha’s Vineyard, life was going as well as it could be during those uncertain times. There were lovely fires in the fireplace, with wood that was carefully selected by Belle’s husband, and cocktails in the afternoon. Yes, there still was fear of COVID, but they felt safe where they were.

The following week, Belle was mopping the floor (I remember thinking that she knew exactly what she was doing when her world turned upside down), and the phone rang. She did not recognize the number. Then a text came from that number. The message was something along the lines of: “This is for Belle. I am sorry to share that your husband has been having an affair with my wife.” She went downstairs to find her husband and met him on the steps heading her way. And from his look, she knew that he knew.

He said all the things you want to hear: “It means nothing. It’s over.” But the following morning, he showed up in the bedroom doorway with a bag and said he was leaving. He did not want to be married. He did not want custody of the children. He did not want the house or the apartment in the city.

Those are the opening pages. So yes, it sounds like fiction or a movie. But it was Belle’s life.

In her memoir, Belle unpacks what happened not just with the end of her marriage, but in the years leading up to it. What had she missed? Keeping in mind her mother, Amanda Burden, and her grandmother, Babe Paley, she also addresses the one thing that she thought would not happen if she divorced.

STRANGERS is honest and beautifully written. Book groups would have a good discussion about it! Be sure to watch or listen to my interview with Belle.