Title: Yesteryear
Author: Caro Claire Burke
Publication: April 7, 2026
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Psychological Fiction
Pages: 400

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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn’t her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

As darkly funny as it is shocking and gripping, Yesteryear is an electrifying examination of tradition, fame, faith and the grand performance of womanhood, from a thrilling new talent in fiction.

REVIEW:

This book was chosen for my Sept book for my book club I run.  I was a little hesitant to read it based on the blurb of the book but am always open to new authors and books.  It’s one of the reasons I love book club. I’m reading some things that based on the back I wouldn’t typically choose for myself. It was a hugely popular book that I had seen in several social media platforms so I had very high hopes for it.    

Natalie marries a man she thinks is potential. From a rich nice political family.  It isn’t till they are married and living with her in laws that she realized a she married a pipe dream.  She has always wanted a ranch and farm with a cowboy for a husband.  When she sees a large parcel of land for sale she decides that this is her calling. What precipitates from the purchase is something that she never dreamed of. Straight out of the gate, my sister told me I was not an amazing book, my friend told me it was weird and confusing, so I went into this book with a little trepidation unsure of what I was going to find.  Unfortunately, my warnings were all accurate. I have no clue what I was actually reading. I spent most of it saying what the hello am I actually reading.

The main character is really hard to like and extremely shallow in every way shape and form.  I am a strong supporter of mental health but I’m having a hard time feeling sympathy for her.  She is selfish and only has a care for her.  The things that happen to her are things that she essentially brought on by her negligence. The concept of the book with current and past was so incredibly confusing and absolutely pointless in the context of the book, it could have been presented in a totally different way. I wanted to like this book seeing as it was so popular but I couldn’t. At times the religion was very culty in nature and seemed in the moment something that really didn’t matter. She claims she is Christian but how she actually acted was certainly not in a Christian manner.  I gave it 3 stars but changed it to 2 in the end after thinking it over. I would never recommend this book to anyone.