Belle Burden joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss her memoir, STRANGERS, which details how her husband abruptly left their marriage during the early days of the pandemic. The book, which is a Bookreporter Bets On selection, chronicles Belle's journey from shock and grief to rebuilding her life as a writer and single mother.

Belle started writing about her experience after her divorce was finalized in 2022, feeling "a burning need to write down what had happened." She initially wrote a piece for the New York Times "Modern Love" column, which ran in June 2023. Following the article's publication, Belle was contacted by editors who suggested turning it into a book. The trauma of her divorce reconnected her with her desire to write, which she had abandoned in college. She explains how the divorce affected her children and her approach to parenting through the crisis.

Belle admits that she handed over financial authority to her husband, despite her being a former corporate lawyer. She has advised her daughters to "never let go of their own financial authority." Belle sees her memoir as reclaiming her narrative rather than letting others define her story. She connects her experience to broader patterns of women's silence and how it allows others to control their narratives. For her, writing the book was an act of agency and authenticity.

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