Yesteryear
In what may just be the year’s wildest book, author Caro Claire Burke spins a highly original read with a killer final twist yet at the same time, delivers a wicked smart exploration of nostalgia, conservatism, social media and fundamental religion. Natalie Heller Mills, a tradwife influencer with over 5 million followers on Instagram posts videos celebrating her pioneer lifestyle but when she wakes up one morning stuck in 1855 with a family that looks only vaguely like hers, she is overcome with anxiety and dread. Has she been kidnapped? Is this a reality show? Are we in a mountain/farm version of OUTLANDER? The narrative unfolds over two story strands: one, the rise of Natalie as a Idaho schoolgirl from a broken home to a Harvard drop-out to a mega-popular online presence; and the other, the trapped Natalie trying to figure out how she got to the mid-19th century and what she has to do to get back to her old life. Narrator Natalie is highly unlikable—she’s sanctimonious, judgmental and absolutely unreliable— yet it’s the crumbling of her carefully curated life, her marriage, her online presence and maybe even her sanity that’s so fascinating to witness. But the true magic here is author Burke’s sharp, energetic writing and her trenchant insights into the way we all recklessly force order (by creating false narratives for ourselves and others, adhering to strict ideologies or exploiting power and privilege) onto our lives, which are, of course, inherently messy. One of this year’s most memorable reads.
READ IF YOU LIKE: Gillian Flynn (GONE GIRL), Emma Cline (THE GUEST), Abigail Dean (THE DEATH OF US)