Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke, features a tradwife influencer by the name of Natalie Heller Mills. Natalie lives on a charming little 500-acre ranch in Idaho with her cowboy husband, Caleb, and their five kids, with another on the way. On Instagram, in front of millions of followers, a pious, obedient Natalie tends to her flock of children as well as her flock of chickens. Natalie makes sourdough bread, drinks raw milk, from her own cow, of course, and makes family meals with the organic vegetables from her farm, Yesteryear Ranch. And from this wholesome content, Natalie makes tens of thousands of dollars a month.
And it couldn’t happen to a worse person. Listen, when I tell you that Natalie is a jerk, I mean she is a real jerk. Selfish as hell and extra mean, often hilariously so. But I found her to be a well-written jerk. The author does a good job of demonstrating that even though Natalie believes the teachings of the church she was raised in, she’s also aware of the irony of many of the social aspects of her religion. And she’s decided that she doesn’t care. Natalie understands that if she can talk the talk and walk the walk, at least online, people will respond to it.
But the story really gets going when Natalie suddenly wakes up in a cold, dark and destitute version of Yesteryear Ranch. The ranch house that was expensively renovated to have all the modern amenities but appear to be rustic and authentic to an online audience, is now, in fact, rustic and authentic. No more hidden microwave, not even one of the two dishwashers, and no running water or electricity. No more nannies, doctors, vaccines, washing machines, Target runs, sponcon or indoor heating. At least there are still chickens.
4 stars because basically everyone is hateful but it did make me laugh. A lot.
CBR18 Bingo Circle – “26” because this hoot of a book was published in our year of the Lord, 2026
