A Conversation with Belle Burden

Join Belle Burden and Holly Parmalee for an intimate conversation about Belle’s bestselling memoir.

We are thrilled to welcome Belle Burden and Holly Parmalee to Athena Books for an intimate conversation about Belle’s bestselling memoir, Strangers, a deeply moving account of love, betrayal, and self-discovery.

Your ticket includes a copy of Strangers, along with wine, seltzer, and light dessert.

Please note: Doors open at 6pm and the event begins at 6:30pm. Please plan to arrive on time so you can fully enjoy the evening. To help preserve the intimate atmosphere, doors will close at 6:45pm, and we won’t be able to admit guests after that time. Thank you so much for your understanding. We look forward to seeing you then!

About Strangers:

In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha’s Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together - building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume.

In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through all of it, she is transformed. The discreet, compliant woman she once was - someone nicknamed “Belle the Good” - gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice.

With unflinching honesty and profound grace, Burden charts a path through heartbreak to show the power of a woman who refuses to give up on love. Strangers is a stunning, deeply moving, compulsively readable memoir heralding the arrival of a thrilling new literary talent.

About Belle Burden:

Belle Burden holds a BA from Harvard College and a law degree from the New York University School of Law. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times. She lives with her children in New York City.