07 June,2026 10:28 AM IST | Mumbai | Debjani Paul
The plot bears some similarities to the life and business model of OG tradwife influencer Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm. Pic/Instagram @ballerinafarm; (right) We can easily imagine Anne Hathaway playing the highly unlikeable Natalie. Anyone remember her turn as a toxic billionaire in the OTT series, WeCrashed? File pic/AFP
Rarely does a literary release create as much buzz as Caro Claire Burke's Yesteryear has this past month. The plot is just that compelling - a famous tradwife influencer is transported to the 1800s, and is forced to actually live the American Pioneer-style lifestyle she has been preaching to her millions of social media followers. Genius!
It's become an instant global bestseller and, reportedly, film star Anne Hathaway secured the screen rights two years before it even released. But does the book live up to the hype?
Right off the bat, Burke paints Natalie as a highly unlikeable protagonist. On camera, she presents a veneer of perfection: a good Christian woman with the perfect husband and children, living off only what the land has to offer - raw milk, organic vegetables and meat, all cooked from scratch, like it was done in the "days of yesteryear".
Off camera, we see the pesticide used on the farm, the swanky equipment hidden in her kitchen, the multiple nannies who care for her kids, and the cold indifference her family holds for her.
She's uptight, almost manic in the way she judges women who refuse to live by different values. She labels them "Angry Women" when they try to poke holes in her story.
Then, one day, she wakes up in a world where that lie has become her reality. No electricity, no vaccines or antibiotics, no feminism to protect her from the rigours of farm life or her brute husband who sees her only as a housekeeper and baby-making machine.
There are moments when you can't help but empathise with her. "America hates women," Natalie bitterly reminds herself as she struggles in a patriarchal hellscape. And that's why it feels like betrayal when she turns all her hate back on womankind, glamourising the subjugation of women on camera, even as she believes it should not apply to her.
As a self-professed "Angry Woman", this scribe couldn't help but revel in schadenfreude as Natalie gets a tastes her own poison, forced to live as a true tradwife with no escape in sight.
Alas, this glee comes to a screeching halt near the end of the novel, with a jarring twist that changes the flavour of the entire story. Without giving away any spoilers, it's a twist that gives Natalie an escape route and hollows out the very purpose and politics of the book.
Having said that, Yesteryear is still worth reading for the peek it offers into the tradwife's mind. The writing is sharp and darkly humorous. And if you're still feeling angry at the end, we suggest looking into the horrific real-life Ruby Franke case, which met a similar, and yet very different end.
