I readStrangersbyBelle BurdenonJul 8th, 2026

I was intrigued by the blurb, “with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her”; curious about the root cause of dissolved marriage, and how this abrupt breakup would devastate the wife’s life. I immediately placed a hold, waited 7 weeks, and finished the book in 3 days.

The book was beautifully written with delicate details of her anger, anxieties, and self-doubts. I could resonate with her pain of betrayal, the confusion and frustration that her husband departed abruptly without a warning or explanation.

He said, “I feel like a switch has flipped. I’m done.”

But on the other hand, Belle Burden was definitely privileged. Her father, Carter Burden served in the New York City Council from 1970 to 1977, and her mother Amanda Burden was a prominent urban planner and former NYC Planning Commissioner. They met when they were both in college, he a senior at Harvard and she a freshman at Wellesley, reminded me the Love Story. Her mother’s ancestors included John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, and Henry Morgan Tilford, a founder of Standard Oil; her father was descended from the Vanderbilts. She was also the granddaughter of the iconic society figure and fashion icon, Babe Paley. She inherited beauty and wealth, and never had to worry about how to make the ends meet as a single mother.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she lived with her children in Martha’s Vineyard, an exclusive island to be isolated from the rest of the world. She also had extensive support from her family and friends. One of her notable struggles was the tug war for the club members between her and her husband. This was definitely a pain, but more or less a first world problem.

The root cause of divorce

The root cause of divorce is not disclosed by the author, James, aka Henry Patterson Davis, refused to explain after the affairs was surfaced. We could only speculate what happened. James said:

“I thought I was happy but I’m not. I thought I wanted our life, but I don’t.”

Happy wife, happy life won’t cut it. James seemed to discontent with the life style orbited around Belle. Or maybe he just wanted to explore the unknowns out of the happy but predictable life like Jeff Bezos? He did not complain or argue, it was probably that he already made up his mind, and cut Belle off completely.

On the other hand, Belle quit her job and only practiced pro bono publico, and shifted her focus to her family as she said:

I had marooned myself again, following a dream that was not my own, moving further away from the person I’d planned to be.

My take away is the family-oriented life is warm and comfortable, but both husband and wife have other goals to achieve, other territories to explore.

I understand the painful divorce that Belle had to go through, but I needed an answer, and hoped to learn something from it amid the gray divorce trend.