Author: Caro Claire Burke
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Satire
Pages: 400
Publisher: Knopf
Year Published: 2026
Format: Paperback Copy (Own It)
"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."
My Rating: 5/5
This is one of those books that has changed me. We follow our main character, Natalie, who is what most would describe as a Trad Wife Influencer. On her farm, which she definitely paid for by herself and runs only with her family (except for that she doesn't). One day she wakes up in a world she doesn't recognize. Things are similar, but not the same. Her house is hers but also not (all signs of modern technology/advancements). I had heard about this book everywhere: social media, bookstores, my friends on Goodreads. EVERYWHERE. I thought to myself, how good could it really be? It was great, one of those books that you know will change you. I'm gonna be thinking about all the messaging, the uncomfortable and obvious, the hidden and more.
Sidny
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