Hannah’s Pick of the Week: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

“The girls looked just like me: freckled, narrow faces, soil-dark hair, expressions prone to penetrating seriousness. Catch one of us in a pouting moment, and you’d be forgiven for summoning images of some sixteenth-century martyr on a hunger strike.

As for the boys, they looked like Caleb: ruddy cheeks, big toothy smiles. When they were all walking in a group (and they often were; the boys worshiped Caleb) they made me think of a trio of politicians in lockstep, scouring the land in search of babies to kiss. “

Caro Claire Burke, Yesteryear, page 4

Natalie Heller Mills was perfect at being alive. A wealthy, traditional (not “trad”), feminine influencer with over two million social media followers; six children with another on the way; and a beautiful dairy and vegetable farm out in scenic Idaho; she was on top of the world. No one could bring her down. No matter what those “angry women” on the internet said.

That is, until she wakes up in a bizarre version of her house, with a cruel husband and children she doesn’t recognize, where everything completely mimics a 1805 homestead. Then, she must find a way to either escape, or survive.

Yesteryear is Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel, and was so propulsive that I had to finish it as soon as the book landed in my hands. I would like to give Burke her flowers for her creativity, her timeliness, and just the fun I had in reading this book. I do wish that she dug in a little deeper, but as a matter of stirring the pot, I found Natalie as a narrator both deliciously insufferable and sometimes, incredibly relatable. She has naked ambition for sure, and Burke’s writing has a darkly humorous aspect that hooked me.

But even if it’s Natalie’s tale, the main crux on the book relies on the women in Natalie’s life: mother, sister, mother-in-law, employee, daughter, daughter, daughter, daughter. I do think that this will be a polarizing read, and so would be great for book clubs. If you loved the witty writing of Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash, or the real world implications of Educated by Tara Westover, Yesteryear could be your next best read.