Review: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

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.

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, with the same husband and children. 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.

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 world 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.

Check out my book club questions here.