S. F. Prescott

Compelling premise and a crazy twist.

Caro Claire Burke received her Master’s in Fine Arts from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is the co-host of Diabolical Lies, a politics and culture podcast. YESTERYEAR is her first novel.

A “trad wife” social media influencer wakes up one morning and finds herself trapped in the harsh reality of 1855, forcing her to question her curated life and escape her nightmarish situation.

This book is a trip! I love a compelling premise, so when I read the description I couldn’t wait to start this one. The protagonist was so unreliable (which I love) and it kept me invested, desperately turning the pages. I loved the disorienting time slip element, and the dual timelines. I haven’t read anything like this, focusing on the “perfect life” of a religious trad wife influencer who is so righteous and hypocritical, it’s infuriating.

I had an idea what this book was about going in, but by the time I finished, the author had completely flipped my assumptions. The same happened with the characters as the situation slowly unraveled, and the truth finally revealed itself. None of the characters were particularly likable, but there were a few I was rooting for more than others, including the kids and Natalie’s old college roommate, Reena, whom she hated. I was gripped throughout! The scenes in the current timeline between Natalie and her husband are terrifying, but the scariest was Natalie’s deteriorating mental state and heightened religious rhetoric. The author has such a strong voice and writing style, making it easy to follow along and jump back and forth in time. The pace was steady but I took my time with the story, savoring each scene to try and solve the puzzle of Natalie’s nightmarish situation. I’m thrilled this will be adapted to screen!

Synopsis:

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.