Yesteryear
By Caro Claire Burke
Knopf, April 2026, 400pp.
The Short of It:
Innocently lures you in and then drops some very big ideas.
The Rest of It:
Natalie has created a perfect life for herself. She lives in a rustic farmhouse with her ever-growing family and stands up on Christian values, a TRADitional marriage, and prides herself on living simply. Her followers agree. She’s the real deal.
Does it matter that she doesn’t do it all on her own as her social media platforms suggest? Is it really so wrong to have producers and content managers and professional photogs at the ready to capture every splendid, clickable moment on the farm?
Something happens in Natalie’s world to make her question everything. She wakes up one day and doesn’t recognize her own children and her husband has grown…hostile. Spending her days doing laundry that only repeats its dirt cycle over and over again makes her want to lose her mind.
Who are these people? Always trying to guide her and tell her what to do. Who is this man who claims to be her husband? And goodness, she never has a moment to come to her senses because she’s either getting pregnant or having a baby. All those babies along with kids she doesn’t recognize.
Let me tell you how this book make me feel.
Enraged. Actual RAGE.
Besides the actual drama of it all, there is a lot to peel back here and I found myself getting quite worked up.
- The world we live in is often created and curated for clicks. What we see is intentionally misleading and opens the door for comparison where we are often left wanting.
- The conservative push to expand families without support for said families doesn’t make sense. Increasing the population when there are school children without lunch? Makes no sense whatsoever.
- What makes a good marriage? Should give and take not be a part of it? Women are being encouraged to return to TRAD wife lifestyles. Stay at home. Have babies. Take care of your husband. But what do you do when your husband is as useless as Caleb is? Well, Natalie is not only expected to stand by him but she is expected to support him to boost his ego.
- I could not help but question the role of children. Yes, living on a prairie long ago probably warranted a lot of children because work on a farm is never done but are they supposed to do the work of adults? Do they have a voice when they see it all going sideways? No.
I understand that Yesteryear has gotten a lot of attention. Anne Hathaway has already optioned it for a movie that she will star in. And it’s been said, that the book took its inspiration from a well known influencer who is currently battling a raw milk fiasco. All this aside, it definitely makes you feel things. It’s a book that needs to be discussed.
Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.
Book Chatter 
all of the above! ” influencers” are what kids these days are aspiring to be. So sad. These manicured fake lashed over plumped lip people
that being said..it was a hard read for me simply because I disliked Natalie SO MUCH. Ugh
fingers crossed for the movie
Yes, Natalie was a piece of work. I had no empathy for her and yet, I could not help but think about my COVID days where I decided to grow my own food and how appealing a simple life felt.
These influencers make a ton of money. Young girls buying palatial homes because of their sponsored posts and clicks. Sure, I can see why it’s appealing. Get stuff for free and get paid to talk about it? But I know that it’s a ton of work and often does involve media managers and assistants. They can’t do it on their own. Not well.
I am definitely hearing a lot of opinions about this book in the book-ish world. Don’t think it would be a good read for me right now, but I’ll keep it in mind for the future perhaps. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ti. Hope you have a nice weekend.
At first glance it seems rather trivial but once I got into it and peeled all those layers back, wow. And to think that an actual influencer was the inspo. I know who it is but didn’t want to name them.
I tried to get one of my book groups to read this and they rejected the idea. I’ll try again with my in-person group as I’d like to read it and it sounds like one that I’d want to discuss with people.
Ok. I just looked up what my in-person book group is reading this month and it’s Yesteryear. I am losing my marbles! 🙂
It’s surprising in ways I didn’t expect.
Ack! Just finished this one and thought it was really good. And the twists. So well done and unexpected.
Right? I thought it was a little deeper than most reviewers made it out to be. It speaks to social media norms and the expectation to be entertained.
In spite of the unlikeable main character, I’m curious about this book, especially since my daughter is a fashion “influencer.” I would like to view that lifestyle from both angles, and yes, it sounds like one to discuss. While we don’t have managers, photographers, and copy writers, we book bloggers are also influencers. Great review, Ti. Now to decide if I want to go with the print or audio version.
Yes, I do consider book bloggers influencers as well. I noticed a recent uptick in Bookstagramers with full on videos and the like. That takes a lot of work and editing so clearly, there are teams behind the scenes. I get it though, because if they generate enough traffic they are making plenty of $$ off of it.
Yesteryear is definitely a book to discuss. I read it not realizing it was based on a real-life influencer. Another reader pointed me to her content, Ballerina Farms on Instagram. I must say, the content is beautiful and she has a storefront and everything.
I stumbled on a couple of the videos from Ballerina Farms a year or so ago. I was enthralled, but once I learned she had a whole team behind the scenes, I felt a little cheated.
Yes, big bucks can be made. I started putting my book reviews on Instagram just for fun, but decided to stop and just continue with my blog.
I still post reviews on Insta because the publishers tend to like that and they keep me rolling in review copies. Can’t complain. I still only review what I want to read so it works. Yes, Ballerina Farm has lovely content but honestly, the TRAD wife stuff and the push to have babies upon babies turns me off. Their choice of course. It’s the Christian / Conservative push that does me in.
Yes I listened to this on audio … and it’s a doozy. I think the author is critiquing all what she portrays. I guess I did not know about tradwife influencers before this … but it seems icky. It’s quite a dark tale but raises telling issues … I reviewed it too here https://www.thecuecard.com/books/yesteryear/
Supposedly, Ballerina Farms was the inspo for the book. I checked it out on Instagram. It’s beautiful content. I can see why it’s popular.
This is probably behind a paywall, but if you read the NYTimes, there’s an article about Hannah Neeleman’s store here.
I was able to read it. She is under fire now for her raw milk push and people getting sick. I mean, she can sell it. People can choose to buy it or not. No way am I drinking raw cow’s milk. I was tickled over the $800 cutting board that went viral and keeps going out of stock. It’s a piece of wood.
I would probably feel the same if I read this.
I want young people to read it. For me, it made the whole world of social media and influencers crumble, the curtain drawn back to reveal the Great Oz as a little man pushing buttons. Yes, a lot to discuss!
Yes! I lead teens at church and when you ask them what they want to be, it’s mostly a brand influencer or a YouTuber. The successful ones do make a ton of money. But every prominent influencer has eventually met a crash. They can’t keep that lifestyle up forever, even with help.