This is Jennifer Havlik with the Sioux City Public Library, and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Picturesque images of rolling fields, prairie dresses, five adorable children, a handsome cowboy husband, and a big red barn – it sounds like an Instagram dream. It’s the life Natalie Heller Mills wants the world to see, envy, and help her monetize. It’s the premise of Yesteryear, a debut novel by Caro Claire Burke. Chosen as a Good Morning America Book Club pick, Yesteryear takes place in the present but hopes to take us back to a simpler time.
Starting from humble beginnings, Natalie attends Harvard on financial aid. However, it doesn’t take long for her to feel that this institution is not where she belongs. Natalie feels everything about the place is empty, simply “for show,” devoid of any meaning. At a group for religious students, she meets Caleb, the youngest son of a wealthy political family. On their third date, they dream of marriage and a perfect life on a farm.
Some years and five kids later, Natalie and Caleb appear to be perfect. Their ranch, named Yesteryear, serves as the backdrop to their social media empire. Showcasing her role as a perfect mother for her eight million followers, Natalie bakes her own bread, homeschools her children and keeps them off screens, and cares for the livestock, selling the tradwife dream. Sure, not every person on the platforms agrees with her, but she’s not worried about a few angry women. Her life is just that great.
Except for the morning Natalie wakes up, and it’s no longer 2026. It’s undoubtably her house, but colder, darker, and without indoor plumbing. It’s now 1855, the people in her home are strangers, and that tradwife life she’s been selling doesn’t have the same
appeal.
Using flashbacks to cover both timelines, Yesteryear is both a frightening and funny look at tradition and what it means to perform, both as a woman and on social media platforms.
You can find Yesteryear here at the Sioux City Public Library and on the Libby app.
Support for Check It Out on Siouxland Public Media comes from Avery Brothers.