Yesteryear - My review
Plus five books you might like better!
I had another post planned for this week but my hold on Yesteryear came up. I read it over the weekend and have a lot of opinions. This was a book that was snapped up by publishers, sold to become a movie, and marketed relentlessly to readers on a simple premise: tradwife gets transported to the time period she has romanticized in her content. The expectation was that we were going gleefully read about the tradwife doing things like cooking over a fire, dipping tallow candles, and spinning wool into yarn while caring for a gaggle of children.
Tiny spoiler: that doesn’t happen. The reviews I read that said the past timeline was “a little slow” or “not as good as expected” did not prepare me for Natalie refusing to get out of bed or throwing tantrums while her 15 year old daughter runs the household. There was a small amount of laundry washed, but that’s it. In essence, Yesteryear was a “you had one job” situation. The premise was technically as marketed but we were being set up to expect a different book from the one they knew we were imagining. I don’t think this did Caro Claire Burke any favors.
My main difficulty, other than the 1800s storyline not following through, was that Natalie did not come across as a real person. Her goals and actions are full of contradictions and her thoughts were jumble of profanity-laced nonsensical Christian-ese. Burke seems to have written the book based on assumptions and stereotypes, making Natalie a sort of stick figure with “Evil Christian” scrawled across it. If you want to give scathing commentary or savage satire, it has to ring true.
There are plenty of reviews with the same take as me, so instead of going on about Yesteryear I’ll share a few titles with a similar premise that I enjoyed.
The Book of Essie (2018) Meghan MacLean Weir. This Duggar-coded novel involves Essie, the teenaged daughter in an evangelical family with their own reality show, using her out-of-wedlock pregnancy as leverage to gain her freedom. She enlists the help of a schoolmate who is from a like-minded evangelical family and a reporter who was formerly a conservative blogger.
Similar elements: religious hypocrisy, commodified childhood
You Will Never Be Me (2024) by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Meredith was a successful early influencer who took Aspen under her wing but when Aspen attains a higher level of success as a mom-fluencer, Meredith sets out to bring Aspen down.
Similar elements: building a mom-fluencer brand, jealous women
Everyone is Lying to You (2025) Jo Piazza. Two former college best friends reunite at an influencer conference when Bex, now a successful tradwife influencer, seeks help from journalist Lizzie. Piazza has written about influencer culture for years now, so Bex feels authentic compared to Yesteryear’s Natalie. A quick and pulpy read.
Similar elements: tradwife loosely based off Ballerina Farm, social satire
Everyone Wants to Know (2023) by Kelly Loy Gilbert. This YA novel is narrated by 16 year old Honor Lo. Honor’s close-knit family seems to be falling apart and she pins all her hopes on their annual vacation to salvage things. Set in a “Jon and Kate + eight”ish family after their show has stopped being on the air, the narrative is interspersed with commentary from a reality TV snark message board.
Similar elements: large family, commodified childhood
Julie Chan is Dead (2025) by Liann Zhang. Twins Julie and Chloe have been separated for most of their lives and if you ask Julie, she got the worst of everything. Julie works at a grocery store while watching Chloe, who was adopted by a white family, live a jet-setting life as an influencer. When she discovers Chloe’s dead body, Julie decides to take over her identity and the plot quickly spins out of control.
Similar elements: jealous women, unhinged influencers
Not tired of talking about Yesteryear yet? Tell me what you thought in the comments.
The Compound
My number recently came up on the extensive wait list at my library for Aisling Rawle’s The Compound. Released in late June, The Compound was a pick for two major book clubs and became a summer hit. Based on the plot, I wasn’t expecting to connect with it but I ended up reading it in only two days and kept thinking about it afterwards.
I think Yesteryear has supremely benefited from being the first, in what I suspect will end up being something of a wave, of books exploring the tradwife trend. I feel as though it's definitely been marketed as more than it is. I found it entertaining, but very surface level. I also think this is the rare case where a screen adaptation might end up being better than the book--we'll see!
(Spoiler Warning) Great review, Kelly! I was very disappointed that there was no "real" time-travelling involved. I think the cover art is also slightly misleading – I was genuinely expecting Natalie to fall through some sort of wormhole and land in a different timeline.