So much hype around this debut novel by Caro Claire Burke, YESTERYEAR (HarperCollins 2026) and I began with high hopes of a story about a TradWife culture gone wrong, and a peek behind the scenes of the picture-perfect influencers who fill our Instagram pages. The book is undoubtedly well-written, but I admit I spent much of the story confused, bamboozled, lost or not quite sure where it was all going.
In the hands of a more experienced writer, I would have felt safe anyway, knowing we would eventually get where we were going. But especially in the second half of this book, I became increasingly befuddled about what was reality and what was fantasy or dream (or nightmare), and although the ending did explain a lot, I still didn’t feel satisfied or that it was entirely plausible. In fact, the story could have been simplified (and I think been better) with one ending. Instead, the author has given us about four endings, each one believable in its own right, but becoming more audacious as the ending keeps changing. It’s not that the ending is ambiguous (I LOVE an ambiguous ending!) but rather the opposite: there are too many endings and they are all plausible if slightly demented.
But to the story. Natalie lives a perfect life on her farm Yesteryear with her handsome cowboy husband, Caleb, and six perfect children. She is a social media influencer with a gazillion followers, each watching her every move as she bakes the perfect sourdough, milks their perfect cow, homeschools their bright and lively children and generally encapsulates what it’s like to survive and live off the land off-grid (except for the small anomaly that she’s a famous influencer). What the followers don’t know (and I found this especially interesting) is the off-screen hum of activity going on behind the scenes … an executive producer helping with the social media platforms, industrial-size kitchens ‘helping’ the charming stove, dozens of migrant workers tilling the fields and harvesting crops, and two (TWO!) nannies to assist Natalie with her children. I suspect this is a very real depiction of many of the ‘independent, back to basics’ influencers we see online.
Then the strangeness begins. One morning, Natalie wakes to a version of her house, her family, her life, but something is very off. Her children are not her children. Her husband, still Caleb, is not the man she knows. And wow, there are no appliances or extra hands on this remote farm. Everything is actually done by hard physical labour. No doctors. No machinery. No pesticides. None of the ‘mother’s little helpers’ that had kept Natalie’s dream life so dreamy. What is this terrible version of reality? Is it God testing her? Is someone filming her in a weird reality TV show? Natalie doesn’t know quite what is going on, but she has the strong urge to escape. But her family, and even the farm and the surrounding forest, won’t seem to let her go.
This book is certainly original, unique, quirky, darkly funny, observant, wry and satirical. It’s a clear-eyed examination of TradWife culture, the Manosphere, the internet and its ardent followers and deep rabbit holes, faith, religion and politics. The compelling narrative keeps readers turning the pages.
But there are some issues. While some of the characters are beautifully fleshed out (especially Mary), some are less so. Some of the decisions and choices made are hard to understand or seem implausible. The bottomless pit of money supplied by Doug, Natalie’s father-in-law with presidential ambitions, is convenient, and then conveniently removed. Caleb seems a shell of a man (but perhaps that’s the point?)
I found the ending unsatisfying. There are several twists – all quite ok – but maybe too many? Or you adjust to one twist and find another, completely different explanation. Then you discover that too is wrong, and the truth is an entirely different beast. The final resolution is actually quite sad and again, a little far-fetched for my liking.
That said, the writing is good, the story is strong for about three quarters of the book, and it certainly raises so many interesting and thought-provoking questions about the lives we lead, the lives of others that so fascinate us, and the truth behind the facades. I did enjoy the book for the most part, but I still can’t decide if I liked or understood the ending. It’s so unusual, a bit contrived and coincidental, but also: maybe that’s the point the author is trying to make?