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.

A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

this was a very timely read, with society tipping towards the right and people seemingly becoming more conservative, i've seen a rise in tradwife (traditional wife, that is to say, a wife who adheres to a more nuclear and old fashioned way of running her family) content on social media, especially in the format of short form content. the character of natalie, our main character, was expertly written - her actions and personality garnered a visceral reaction out of me. what was she so righteous and snobby for?!

the way that she ran her family and her instagram account all felt very sly to me because she was lying to her audience about the authenticity of her digital presence. there is definitely a deeper conversation to be had about how much a creator should share with their audience, and whether there's a line between privacy and lying.

when reading about her husband, caleb, and his complete inadequacy to do anything for him, i began to wonder: was i being too harsh on natalie? she only became a tradwife influencer because caleb couldn't hold any other job. he became enraptured with the idea of returning to colonial america, specifically owing a farm. since they couldn't make any real money from their crops because caleb had black thumbs, natalie was driven to content creation by desperation. yet another instance of a woman having to clean up after a man.

the ending was not at all what i expected, but it felt very real. i've watched documentaries about young girls who leave cults and MLMs, eventually writing novels about their experiences. that is what this felt like.

despite disliking natalie - and her entire family by extension - i enjoyed the book thoroughly. i'm excited to see how anne hathaway will turn this piece of literature into a film.