I’m not sure why but I’ve been very slow off the mark with memoirs this year. Ordinarily, I’d be at least ten deep by April – memoir is my favourite genre. Anyway, I picked up Strangers by Belle Burden (subtitle – ‘Memoir of a Marriage’) and I barely moved a muscle until I’d finished it.

Belle’s story is relatively straightforward – happily married to a man called James, three teenage children, an apartment in New York and a large house on Martha’s Vineyard. Belle had worked as a lawyer at a large firm where she met James. She left the practice after they married and had their first child, and in the meantime, James moved to working with a hedge fund (and was very successful). When COVID hit, the couple moved to Martha’s Vineyard and fell into the rhythm of slower days, cooking elaborate meals and long walks.

And then James announced he was leaving Belle. Continue reading →