Beth Golay

So this memoir began as an essay published in the New York Times Modern Love section.

For any listeners who haven't read the essay, could you give us a description of Strangers?

Could you set it up for us?

So after your story was published in The Times, how then did it become a book?

So the book has the subtitle, The Memoir of a Marriage, and that's certainly an accurate description.

But I also found, you know, the aspects of your family history intriguing.

This background was not a part of the modern love piece.

So structurally, how did you weave these sections in with the narrative of your marriage?

You know, you do mention your mother and your grandmother, but you also mention, you know, there was a thread in the story that had been whispered about over the years that James's father also left his family abruptly and then returned for a period of years before James's mother filed for divorce.

But as you just mentioned, you noted that your marriage had some aspects similar to your mother's and her mother's.

And you talked about breaking this cycle.

So what does breaking this cycle mean to you?

You just said the word demean, it demeans us.

And I imagine this is a difficult subject to write about.

And when people would say the words cathartic or revenge to you, you said those words felt demeaning.

So in crafting this book, was any part of it, was any segment especially challenging for you in terms of getting the story on paper?

So you would write about this, and then you had to read it.

You read the audio.

How was that?

Oh, my gosh.