Published: 2026
Author: Caro Claire Burke
Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Mystery / Time Travel
Audience: Grades 9–12, Adult
Number of Stars: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Goodreads Link: Yesteryear
Content Warnings: Physical abuse, mental abuse, and mental health issues.
Publisher’s Summary
My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.
Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.
Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.
A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.
Full Review
By LeeAnn Kendall
This book was such an interesting read! An influencer mom wakes up one morning in the 1850s and is desperately trying to figure out how to get her picture-perfect life back. As time goes on, she slowly starts to evaluate the choices she has made, leading to a truly surprising ending.
This was honestly one of the more interesting books I have read in the last few years. The main character, Natalie, was incredibly unlikable and served as a very unreliable narrator. The narrative structure shifts back and forth between the brutal reality of the 1850s and the curated present day. Older students would enjoy this book as it explores the influencer lifestyle and “raises the veil” on what happens behind the scenes of social media fame. While the ending was shocking, the story felt like it wrapped up a little too quickly.
📱 The “Trad-Wife” Phenomenon & Digital Performance
Yesteryear satirizes a real-world social media subculture known as “Trad-Wives” (Traditional Housewives), where influencers promote a return to 19th-century domesticity while using 21st-century technology to monetize it.
- The Unreliable Narrator: Natalie is “perfect at being alive,” which makes her the ultimate unreliable narrator. Her internal monologue reveals the gap between the brand she sells and the person she actually is.
- The Performance of Womanhood: The book explores the idea that Natalie was “performing” a pioneer life for the camera, but when faced with the actual labor of the 1850s, the performance shatters.
- A Critique of Tradition: By throwing a modern “anti-feminist iconoclast” into a time when women had no legal rights, the novel forces a confrontation between romanticized history and historical truth.
🎒 Classroom & Curricular Connections
- ELA (The Unreliable Narrator):
- Activity Idea: Trace Natalie’s descriptions of her life in the “Present” chapters versus the “1850s” chapters. How does her tone change? Have students find three instances where Natalie lies to herself or the reader to maintain her “perfect” image.
- Media Literacy (Digital Curation):
- Activity Idea: Discuss the “raising of the veil.” Have students analyze a popular social media trend (like “Day in the Life” videos). What is being shown, and what is likely being hidden behind the camera? How does Yesteryear reflect the mental health toll of maintaining a digital persona?
- Social Studies (Women’s Rights in the 1850s):
- Activity Idea: Natalie wakes up in a world where she is legally and physically dependent on her husband. Research the legal status of women in the mid-19th century (e.g., Coverture laws). How does this historical reality clash with Natalie’s modern “traditional” values?
- Sociology (The Aestheticization of Poverty):
- Activity Idea: Discuss why modern, wealthy influencers often “perform” a simpler, poorer lifestyle (farming, handmade goods) for profit. Why is this aesthetic so appealing to millions of followers?
