LIFT Book Club: 10/7/26 8:30am

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Leadership & Inspiration for Trailblazers (LIFT) is a women's networking group that focuses on the core values of Empowerment, Education, Connection, Inspiration, and Inclusion of our WNY community. We welcome you to engage with this group to find self discovery and contribution to your professional journey. The mission is to support professional women so they can succeed. All members welcome.
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LIFT Book Club: Each session is limited to 4-12 seats

Join us for more than just a book club—this is a space where women lift each other up, share stories that spark courage, and build meaningful connections within our Chamber community. Together, we’ll explore ideas that challenge and inspire, creating an intimate experience that celebrates growth and empowerment.

Book Choice:
"Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage" by Belle Burden

Participants would be required to borrow or purchase their own Book or eBook from any notable retailer.
Most sessions are VIRTUAL on Wednesdays. The link will be emailed prior to session start.
The final session on Wednesday, December 2nd, will be in-person at the Amherst Chamber of Commerce at 12pm for ALL sessions to review and conclude the readings. Lunch will be served.

8:30am Session Facilitator: Lauren Schellinger, Impressia Bank

Time: 8:30-9:15am
Date: Bi Weekly Virtual Wednesdays
- 10/7/2026
- 10/21/026
- 11/4/2026
- 11/18/2026
- 12/2/2026
  - End Lunch Joint Session: In person at Amherst Chamber on Wednesday at 12:00pm on 12/2/2026

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage

by Belle Burden (Author) Format: Hardcover

(49,068)

4.2 on Goodreads

216,028 ratings

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Burden’s searing, probing memoir explores . . . what she learned about intimacy and her own spirit.”—People

“A beautifully written instant classic. Strangers is gripping and heartbreaking and a must-read for every wife—and husband.”—Graydon Carter

“Asks us to examine life’s most perplexing questions: Can we see the invisible fault lines in a marriage or truly know the people closest to us?”—Lori Gottlieb

It was a great love story, one for the ages. The speed of our beginning and the speed of our ending felt like matching bookends. They both came out of nowhere. He wanted it, he wanted me. And then he didn’t.

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.

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Date and Time

Wednesday Oct 7, 2026
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM EDT

8:30am Session
Bi-weekly
8:30-9:15am

Location

Virtual.
Link will be sent prior to session start

Fees/Admission

Members only access
No cost

Website

http://amherst.org/lift

Contact Information

Tiffany or Christine
Send Email