I first heard about Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke on Threads. Someone was talking about how Anne Hathaway had bought the movie rights and everyone was excited for it to be turned into a movie. The idea of a trad-wife going back in time to live the reality she portrayed online as the ideal was very appealing to me and I immediately bought the book straight from Amazon (linked with this link). You know that feeling when a book pulls at you with an invisible tug and you just know in your heart of hearts that it is meant for you in this moment and may become a favorite? That is how I felt when I was reading about this book on Threads so I did not get it from the library or even begin to look for it in a used book store even though it is a bestseller and was bound to be there at some point. I wanted that fresh off the press I am the first one reading it feel to this read so my copy the book would take on some of my spiritual imprint and eventually it would become like an old friend. Anyone else feel like their copies of books do that?
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The books starts out with Natalie as a young woman and the early strict upbringing that caused her to adopt even more ultraconservative values as she goes off to college, marries a rich but clueless Caleb and has her first child Clem. Caleb and Natalie eventually move to a small farm with the help of Caleb’s father and Natalie starts her YouTube channel and builds her social media empire while birthing several more children. She adopts this all natural living style while homeschooling her children and staying isolated on her farm.
Things start to go awry when Natalie hires a young college student to help her with marketing who questions some of the realness of what Natalie has bene portraying online versus what she sees in person at the farm. One day Natalie wakes up and has time traveled to the harsh reality of an 1800s farm similar to the ideal she had portrayed online for many years. Her children are not her children, her husband is something different and the endless chores wear Natalie down. This causes a mental crisis for Natalie but I will not spoil it for you as to what happens next, just know that it is really good. So good in fact that I am going to have to read the book again since I was so enthralled I read the entire book in a day and I am sure I missed something.
It says a lot that I have not been able to find any major spoilers unmarked on Threads. Everyone seems to be waiting for the collective women of the world to read the book and come to some conclusions about their own lives and roles which is amazing. Ms. Hathaway is set to star and produce the horror film based on this article in Indie Wire. Nevertheless, Yesteryear is one of the best books I have read all year and the ending was not at all what I predicted. If you know, you know but I will not spoil it for those who have not read it yet.
I highly recommend this book to everyone to read and I can’t wait for the movie to come out!
Links:
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Anne Hathaway Producing and Starring in Yesteryear
Reminder: Sea of Charms is coming out at the end of July and we will be doing a book club in September for it on the Cozy Oscoey channel.
Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst Preorder
This site participates in affiliate links and receives a small fee for affiliate recommendations at no cost to you. As always we only recommend products we have tried ourselves. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
