Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The story of a woman’s surprising divorce and her attempt to build anew. After Burden’s husband of 20 years walked out during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, her stepmother tried to explain the checkered response of their wealthy community: “There is no script for divorce, especially one as dramatic as yours.” The author’s debut expands and fine-tunes the piece she submitted to “Modern Love,” theNew York Times column, tracing her ex-husband James’ transformation from reliable partner to detached stranger to legal adversary. This more complete narrative reveals the amplified stakes surrounding the collapse of Burden’s marriage: financial, familial, and societal. The latter half of Burden’s book, which describes grappling with the logistics of disentangling from James and finding new independence, strength, and compassion, lacks some of the raw emotional vulnerability that marked herTimes contribution. But these chapters do expose the reaction of her wider circle, both the cold comments and the surprisingly supportive ones, and the expectations of women of her social status. (The author is a descendant of the Vanderbilts, with media founders, international style icons, and hedge fund executives scattered through her family tree.) It is difficult to completely erase all hints of society-page voyeurism—this is, after all, the world of keyed beach access passed down through generations, where private club membership is an item negotiated in marital separation. However, if Burden’s privilege remains in the frame, so does its attendant social elegance. In reclaiming her voice and story, Burden refuses to keep the silence and make the excuses as implicitly expected by society and explicitly demanded by her ex, and she remains charitable and gracious even when she does not have to be. This balance imbues her story with a certain power as both the missing script for would-be commenters and a radical extension of kindness toward herself. A measured, empathetic, and modern response to an enraging callousness. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.