I first heard about Yesteryear via a Facebook post announcement that Ann Hathaway was going to star in a movie adaptation of the book, which is about a popular tradwife influencer who suddenly finds herself in 1855. Well, I thought, sounds like she’s going to get what she deserves. I love history, but I am not a fan of people who want society to regress, particularly those who want all humans to revert to living under strict gender roles.

As Yesteryear shows, that way of life is harmful for everyone involved. No one, this novel makes clear, lives an authentic life under such strictures. Everyone plays a role, life is performative, and relationships are hollow.

Why on earth would I want to read a book about a tradwife?

I decided to check it out and read the free digital preview. Surprise! I was quickly hooked, purchased the book, and continued reading. I probably could have read the book in one sitting if it weren’t for work getting in the way. This 400-page novel was an absolute page turner for me.

Angry women

Natalie Heller Mills is a smart girl from rural Idaho. Her father left when she was ten, and her mother told Natalie and her younger sister that he was “no longer with us.” She let people believe he had died. In addition to being smart, Natalie is very disciplined. She earns a full scholarship to Harvard. In addition to being smart and disciplined, she is also incredibly judgmental, which makes her angry, among other things.

College does not go well. She hates her roommate, Reena Magliotti, and all the other women around her who do not share her beliefs. Reena comes to represent all of the liberal feminist “angry women” that Natalie rails against. She meets her future husband, Caleb, at a Christian student group and drops out of college to marry him and have their first baby. Caleb is unambitious and seemingly not very bright, but he has a rich and powerful father. Natalie manipulates and bends Caleb to her will, and with $5 million in funding from his father, she sets about creating the life they both want.

Enter Instagram

They’re living on a ranch, working in their separate spheres, having children, when Natalie starts an Instagram account. That five million went fast, and she needs to make money. One thing leads to another, and she eventually has millions of followers, most of whom love the beautiful images and videos she shares of their perfect “traditional” life. But it’s not easy, and their off-camera life is, not surprisingly, far from traditional.

Natalie’s experiences, from her childhood to her present situation(s), make her meaner and more self-absorbed, yet better at portraying herself as a good Christian woman. She has no kindness or warmth. Her husband loves to play with their children and take care of them, but eventually stops because good Christian men are hard, distant, and don’t show emotion. Caleb is easily taken in by online conspiracy theorists and manosphere influencers.

As you can guess, cracks appear on their perfect facade. The first sentence of the novel is a fissure: “This is the last day of the life I imagined for myself.” Pregnant with her sixth child, Natalie hires two nannies and eventually a live-in producer. It doesn’t take long after the producer arrives for the facade to shatter. Shannon hears gossip from the nannies and sees what is never revealed on Natalie’s Instagram account. She bonds with the eldest child, twelve-year-old Clementine, who is not happy with her mother.

Schadenfreude-filled Thriller?

The story is presented in four parts: The Past, The Present, The Future, and an Epilogue set Five Years Later. What I thought was going to be a schadenfreude-filled thriller turned out to be deeper and darker than I could have guessed. This story is not just a microscopic look into this woman’s psyche and marriage; it digs into social media, politics, and issues of control, mental health, and abuse.

When the story shifts to Natalie in 1855, things get trippy, and I felt for Natalie and her children (and the chickens, as well as the cows earlier in the story). Is Natalie really in 1855? Is this man, Old Caleb, really her husband? Who are these children who call her mama? Are they actors? Is she being filmed? Is it a bad dream?

You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Surprisingly, the story ends on a hopeful note, which I did not see coming.

I’m writing this from a hotel room in Manchester, Vermont, where I’m attending the Northshire Bookstore’s annual Booktopia book festival. One of the attending authors is horror writer Saratoga Schaefer, whose new book is Trad Wife. Guess what I’m reading tonight?

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YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke
A Good Morning America Book Club Pick
Published by Penguin Random House on April 7, 2026
The bottom line: Readers who enjoy thrillers featuring complicated women in tough situations will want to check out this one.