I read Strangers by Belle Burden recently. Well, “read” is a strong word. I listened to the audiobook. I’ve actually gotten into this habit of listening to audiobooks pretty regularly now. It’s become my thing to listen to it while I’m cooking, walking, or just sitting in the quiet after the kids are asleep.

I think I saw it suggested on Instagram. Just goes to show there are some good things that can come from scrolling, right?

Anyway, this book was so good. My mom gifted it to me because she had some credits she hadn’t used. And let me tell you, I was hooked. The way Burden tells this story had me listening in all my free time. I could not put it down. Or, I guess you could say, I couldn’t press pause.

So here’s the gist: Belle Burden comes from a world of wealth and social status. She meets a man named James while they’re both working as lawyers at a big firm. He’s steady, driven, and she’s drawn to his stability.

They get married. She becomes a stay-at-home mom. They have three kids. Twenty years go by.

And then, in March 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, while they’re at their house on Martha’s Vineyard, he announces out of nowhere that he’s leaving her. No warning. No explanation. Just I’m done.

And it gets worse. He doesn’t just leave her. He says he doesn’t want custody of the kids, the apartment, or the house. He just walks away from everything.

The whole book is her trying to make sense of it. She looks back on their marriage, searching for clues, wondering if she missed something. She also reckons with her own family history (her mother and grandmother both went through betrayals too) and what that taught her about how a woman is supposed to behave when she’s been wronged.

What I appreciated most is that she doesn’t tell this story to shame her husband. She could have. And honestly, he comes off looking pretty bad. But it never feels like a hit piece. It feels like her trying to understand. Trying to process. Trying to find her voice after years of being “Belle the Good.”

And she does find her voice. The book is about her transformation from someone who was quiet and compliant to someone who’s braver and determined to speak her truth.

It makes you think, too. About the stay-at-home mom situation. I know it works for a lot of people. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to be home with your kids. But reading this book, you can’t help but wonder: what happens when you’re financially dependent on someone who isn’t being honest with you? She found out during the divorce that he’d been earning millions of dollars a year, and she had no idea. That’s terrifying. He hadn’t hidden it, she said. She just hadn’t looked. Hadn’t wanted to know.

And that’s the thing about trust, right? You build a life with someone assuming you’re on the same team. And then one day, you’re strangers.

I don’t want to give away too much more. You really have to read it or listen to it, I should say. She narrates the audiobook herself, which makes it even more powerful. It’s worth the listen.

And it reminds you that even when life completely falls apart, there’s a way through.

Have you read or listened to Strangers? What did you think? I’d love to hear in the comments.

Get the Book: If you want to listen to Strangers, I highly recommend grabbing it on Audible. https://amzn.to/3Un4DsE #CommissionsEarned