Review: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke is one of the most original and unique stories I’ve ever read. Put it on your must-read list right now.
Whew, this story!!! Well, I’m certain it will be everywhere in 2026. This is the book that will get people talking this year. Last year, it was reported that Amazon MGM won the rights, and Anne Hathaway is attached to star and produce the film version. So lots of buzz indeed, and it’s very much warranted and deserved.
This novel is quite inventive, a satire about a woman obsessed with the idea of perfection, and tries to be the ideal Christian tradwife. She gets millions of followers and becomes extremely rich, but there’s always something dark lurking.
Then she wakes up in the brutal reality of 1855 and has to determine if it’s a nightmare, time travel, or something else.
Yesteryear will grab your attention from page one and not let go, and once you’ve finished, you’ll find yourself thinking more about this inventive and complex story. This is why I selected it as a must-read book club pick of 2026.
What’s the Story About
Natalie is dedicated to living a traditional lifestyle. She has a farmhouse in Idaho, a cowboy husband, and six children. There are 8 million followers who believe she does everything the old, traditional way, but have no idea there are nannies and modern kitchen equipment everywhere.
Then one day, she wakes up, and it’s not her same life. It appears she’s been transported back to 1855. Now she’s forced to really live the traditional lifestyle, but she has to figure out what’s actually going on. Is it time travel or a reality show?
Whatever it is, she’ll do anything to escape.
Heather’s Book Club
Unlikable Protagonist
Unlikable protagonists are a tricky sell in an era where people really look for relatability. But some stories, like Yellowface, Gone Girl, and now Yesteryear, feature mean-spirited, deeply flawed characters and turn them into addictive stories. It’s a disaster that you can’t look away from, and you also want to know how it will all turn out in the end.
So don’t go in expecting to feel sympathy for Natalie. It takes a truly talented writer to feature such an abhorrent character, but make you want to read what will happen next. It’s truly so fascinating, while you’re also thinking, thankfully, you don’t know anyone like Natalie. She is cruel, narcissistic, and overall a terrible human being.
The story is split into two narratives: one where Natalie wakes up to a life that isn’t hers, and the other documents her life up until she’s back in the past. Both are extremely compelling and addictive to read. I really didn’t know where the story was going to go, and was quite surprised at the reveals to come.
Trad Wife Influencer
While the word influencer has been around for so long now, it still feels weird to say for some reason. I find social media entertaining like everyone else, but also exhausting, and I grapple sometimes with the best way to use it, as I feel it is toxic in many ways.
So it was quite intriguing to read a kind of behind-the-scenes look at an influencer, and coupled with it being a tradwife, it adds another almost bizarre layer to it. Natalie is all about pretending she’s operating from the past, but let’s make sure and get those Instagram likes, right?
The hypocrisy was not surprising—they use modern kitchen items, her husband is actually clueless at how to operate a farm, and her children are unwilling participants in her social media scam. It provides a window to what we all know, but at the same time, sometimes it’s hard to remember that what we see online is rarely the real truth of how these influencers really live.
Verdict
Yesteryear is a tense and sharp satire about the tradwife lifestyle, toxic social media, lies, politics, and narcissism. The story also dives into marriage, motherhood, expectations on women, and more. It does not shy away from anything, and the thoughts Natalie has are extremely twisted and disturbing at times. But there’s plenty of humor too.
You’ll go in wondering what is happening, and leave thinking that was a wild story. Great story all around that you have to read.
Thank you for reviewing this book without spoilers. The story sounded like a great concept, and I am thinking of buying it, but I didn’t want to know the ending. I have always curled my lip at those phony Trad Wife podcasts. I’m 87, and my maternal grandmother, who was born in 1885, actually lived an exhausting Trad Wife life on a farm and it was NO fake influencer picnic. Six living children, 3 stillbirths, a cast iron stove kitchen, laundry with her homemade soap, chickens, pigs, a garden, a house to clean, an icebox instead of a refrigerator, bread to bake, game and fish to clean, cooking for a demanding, handsome but abusive husband, who have to have a clean white ironed shirt every workday morning as a railroad manager and dinner ready at 6:00pm. Her life sounded like a nightmare to me, not something to sell as a wonderful tradition any “real woman” should long to return to. Good for Caro Claire Burke.
Thank you Nancy for your insightful comment! Yes, I think you will find this story of interest, especially with your maternal grandmother’s history.
I love this review and mostly agree with your takeaway! But despite her very apparent awfulness i *did* find myself feeling sorry for Natalie at points— which is the sign of a talented writer imo
Thank you! Yes, as I’ve thought about the novel more, I’ve come to the same conclusion. When it comes down to it, Natalie was not ever given a chance to life a normal life, but she was also her own worst enemy.
I couldn’t put this book down, until I got to the end. It felt messy. Also there is a lot of difficulty with time scales and character ages. After thinking about it I decided that, for me, this story has a Very Big Picture. The whole narrative is confused because our protagonist is telling it. What is the truth? To me, this book is a metaphor for 21st century division and confusion.
@Raye, Very insightful! I certainly see how it can serve as a metaphor for that.
I read about 1/3 of the book and will not finish reading it. The sexual content is disgusting and definitely not necessary to the plot. I cannot stand the main character and her fake personality. Unfortunately, I will have to miss my Bookclub gathering as I would rather not ever have to think about this trash novel again.
I disagree; the sexual content is hugely necessary to the plot and is a representation of the dynamic between Natalie and Caleb. Also, there really wasn’t that much of it at all… especially in the first third !
Wow! I found the book very disturbing but am glad I got through it! I believe there is no bad book or story; it’s just a story. It will be quite interesting to see how the movie portrays Natalie and rolls out the story. Definitely seemed to have elements of mental illness involved. Natalie seemed to have the unfortunate behaviors from the get go. Thanks for the review!
I think it’s an excellent story, I listened to the audiobook. No way she didn’t know what mastitis was and I’ve never kneaded sour dough, just folded it. I imagine the authorities would have been knocking to see the kids previously too, if clementine had reported them? When was she at college -1990’s? So a few bits seemed a touch off. The confusion of the timelines jumping around and the interview questions was a little tricky to follow, but came together with her being confused and unreliable and kept the pace up.
I certainly felt sorry for her throughout, whilst knowing she was not kind or caring. But I think the author did a great job of portraying her character and I understand how she got there. Narcissistic people don’t decide to be that way, it’s their upbringing and society and often a neurodivergence and sensitivity that makes them think they have to behave rigidly, keep the guard up. It allows them to judge others harshly, as they have felt so judged previously.
I decided if she had time travelled I’d be angry as there were words like snack and shower, which didn’t seem right for the 1800’s and other things that just seemed off. It made me angry that Natalie didn’t help Mary more and sickening that she’d developed a crush on her brother. The youngest daughter was sad too. That she was the only daughter Natalie had loved, when addled with drugs and living a desperate existence with a simplistic, brain damaged child. That’s what Natalie needed to be able to just ‘be’ rather than always scheming and pretending.
All the themes were sad actually, the portrayal of options for modern women, society, Christianity, extremism, Doug and Natalie playing for the crowds, desperate people doing things. No one quite fitting in. Caleb being ostracised by his brothers, Natalie’s manipulation of him and everyone, thinking these were relationships. It’s going to take me a long time to process this story.