I’ve sat with this review for over a week since reading the book. I didn’t want to simply knee-jerk reaction.

First of all, I would have DNFed and the only reason I didn’t was because the author had shared a carousel on instagram that resonated with me. It was a decades worth of rejections, and hard work behind the scenes before the last triumphant slide as a bestselling author. So I was rooting for Burke, but unfortunately it feels like I’m the one who lost.

(Since reading the book I found out that Burke also has a podcast, but my only knowledge of her prior to reading the book was this one post.)

I think that the publishing industry as a whole needs to do a better job with marketing. Yesteryear, the actual novel, was not what the blurbs promised it would be.

Yesteryear had such a wonderfully clever premise. Had a real tradwife, someone who was *in it* – who was living the religion and sincere in their Belief woken up in 1855 and had to live the actual life that the aesthetic was built on then that would have been an excellent book. The satire would have worked, and the story would have been just a truly phenomenal work. Unfortunately, that is not the book we got. And I could not recommend it less.

If you have never experienced a high-control religion then you can not begin to satirize it effectively. In order for satire to work you have to make a point, and Burke did not have one. Or maybe she had too many and none of them were fully realized. Regardless, I ended the book feeling incredibly disappointed and a little disgusted. I wish I hadn’t spent 14 hours with the main character.

There are some spoilers from here on.

Then I went on Reddit to see how other people were feeling where I was treated to 100s of comments discussing whether or not Natalie had sexually assaulted Shannon or if Shannon had lied about being sexually assaulted. Really, it was left with the two options being 1) Natalie is a secret lesbian who assaulted another woman or 2) Shannon lied about SA. Maybe that was Burke’s point. To point out the ludicrousness that *that* is the discussion rather than that the patriarchy hurts everyone and if Caleb could’ve just been a kindergarten teacher none of the rest of the story would have happened.

Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if the novel discussed the systems that cause reality rather than continuously reading like contempt of the main character?

If Burke’s point was that in all scenarios women are suffering, and that in every road the patriarchy is harmful then I would’ve loved it. But if that was her point it wasn’t sharpened enough to be the prevalent discussion.

Maybe Burke’s point was supposed to be about the fakeness of social media – but that’s not a new concept and it certainly wasn’t well fleshed out in this book.

People have tried to be social media influencers for over a decade because of desperation. And that was very briefly touched on in Natalie’s inner monologue but not ever expanded on. She could have fleshed out and satirized influencer culture, or she could have disparaged the reason it exists. Instead Burke decided to focus in on one part that she was genuinely unfamiliar with. Or maybe I’m reading it wrong and she’s deeply familiar with it and that’s why she treated fundy religion with such clear and obvious disdain.

Natalie wasn’t written as a deeply devout Christian woman. She was written as a paper doll. This is what the author believe someone in a high control religion would be doing. Which high control religion seemed intentionally blurred. But Natalie was written like someone who wasn’t actually religious, but the imaginings of what a religious person would be by someone who actually hates religious people. And yes I know lots of readers feel sympathy for Natalie – she still isn’t written like someone devoutly religious.

Now, in full disclosure, I was raised in a fundy-religion, and I do believe that organized religion is bad/harmful. But because of that I believe that Burke has never actually experienced, or even meaningfully talked to, someone who is currently deeply religious and honest to god believes in being a tradwife.

Aside from that the plot had such gapping holes it was unsatisfactory. Like how did we go from “my father is going to have you murdered” to “yes I’ll convert our house into a home from 1855 for you.” And it was wrapped up in such a way that it really bothered me.

For instance, I’ve never met anyone who escaped a high control religion and then went to “regular” church where the pastor is cool and everything is okay cause the LGBTQ community is welcome. And second of all, the way that Natalie’s mom is forgiven of all sins and get to just be in the kids lives in a “we live with my grandmother and that’s cool” kinda way is unacceptable. Natalie’s mother was instrumental in her upbringing and why Natalie believed what she believed and behaved the way she did. Natalie even used her mother’s line of “no longer with us” to explain away the disappearance of the other children to Mary. Going to therapy doesn’t automatically create redemption.

Also, and this is just another aside, but in what universe would Natalie receive 30 YEARS for child abuse? We can argue about if she deserves 30 years, but in America in 2025? She’s not getting that. Especially not with a clear case for an insanity plea.

Final aside – Caleb’s father had generational wealth. Didn’t blink at a 5 million dollar purchase. It was something like 6 generations of politicians – I don’t buy that the money dried up in something between 15-20 years.

If I were going to rework this book there are so many ways I would. First and foremost I want the book promised to us. Second I would remove the time jump aspect and have the story be about the exposure from Shannon and how a “perfect” life can unravel. Third I would’ve written it about how a regular sane person falls down the alt right pipeline and becomes a tradwife.

I *really* wanted to love this book. I was so excited about it that I had my partner listen to it with me. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I read a lot, and when I read, I like to feel good or have learned something at the end. I felt disgusted at the end of this book.

I really liked these reviews as well: By Gryllus and by Holly