"Honestly, this is one of the most mind bending reading experiences I have had in a long time. When I finished this book, my head was spinning. I felt stunned, unsettled, confused, deeply shaken, and yet ultimately impressed because what I thought I was signing up for was not at all what I actually received.

Based on the blurb, the premise initially reads like an intriguing time travel fantasy blended with women’s fiction. We meet Natalie Heller Mills, a glossy, picture perfect YouTuber and influencer documenting her idyllic farm life with her husband and five children, with a sixth on the way. One morning she wakes up in the same house, but it is no longer the renovated farmhouse she knows. Instead, she is suddenly transported to 1805, surrounded by dirt, hardship, firewood for heat, hand washed clothes, poverty, and a rougher, older version of her husband. There is no electricity, no comfort, no safety net, just brutal pioneer reality. At first this feels like a nightmare she desperately wants to wake up from, and I assumed the story would follow a straightforward magical or historical fantasy path. I could not have been more wrong.

Once the novel reaches its second half, the true nature of the story becomes chillingly clear. I do not want to spoil anything, but there is a moment so shocking that I literally stopped reading and stared at the page. The final twist left me reeling and reminded me strongly of the real life Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt case, including their multimillion dollar mansion and horrific revelations. I highly recommend reading about that case after finishing this book, because the parallels are haunting.

Yes, the book is long, but I was never bored. The central mystery revolves around why Natalie, a devout Christian, manic pixie style tradwife figure with eight million followers, becomes the target of angry online critics, Ivy League elites, and social media activists who label her anti feminist. Suddenly finding herself trapped in a Little House on the Prairie style past, she must figure out how to survive and whether she can return to her real life.Interwoven with this is Natalie’s backstory. We learn how she earned a scholarship to Harvard but struggled to fit into the elite academic world because of her sheltered upbringing and strict moral values instilled by her widowed mother. Her life motto is always be nice, even as rage and resentment quietly simmer beneath the surface. Then she meets Caleb, a man from a large conservative patriarchal family with secrets of their own.

After marriage, Natalie realizes Caleb is intellectually lazy, spoiled, and completely disconnected from real labor or responsibility. When she suggests starting a farm as his “project,” she thinks she is helping him find purpose. Instead, it becomes her own empire, complete with millions of followers, brand deals, hired nannies, and a 21 year old producer named Shannon documenting every moment of her supposedly perfect life.This book will absolutely spark political and cultural debate. It is sharp satire, but also a chilling reflection of real world extremism disguised as family values.

Natalie is deeply flawed and often unlikable, but she is never a cartoon villain. You may hate her choices, but the novel pushes you to understand how she became this way.What frustrated me most was that I disliked almost every character. Caleb is painfully ignorant. His father Doug is predatory and manipulative. His mother is emotionally broken. Even Natalie’s own family and producer Shannon, despite her good intentions, drove me crazy. That is why I deducted one star.

Still, the book is unforgettable.Natalie’s voice is fascinating. She is obsessed with being good, likable, obedient, and morally pure, yet those very traits trap her in misery. The novel brilliantly shows how everyone in this story believes they are right while being deeply wrong at the same time. They are all both victims and villains of their own choices.The final twist is wild, slightly far fetched, but devastatingly effective.

The emotional conclusion stayed with me long after I finished. I truly believe this will be one of the most talked about, provocative, and controversial books of the year, and I would not be surprised if it becomes a television series.Even if you find Natalie unbearable, you should still read this book. It is a sharp mirror of today’s social media culture, political polarization, religious extremism, family dysfunction, and most importantly, mental health. It is challenging, uncomfortable, brilliant, and unforgettable.

A very huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Knopf for providing me with this intellectually electrifying and deeply thought provoking digital review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

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"Imagine every day you wake up at exactly 5:58 am to your five children and cowboy husband, with a sixth child on the way. You make bread from scratch, raise chickens, and only drink raw milk for your nearly five million Instagram followers who believe you live a “tradwife” lifestyle; you prefer the term “wholesome Christian values.” And no one needs to know about your two nannies and the industrial oven you keep hidden away.

But one morning you wake up to a sharper bite in the air. The organic cotton down comforter has been replaced by a patchwork quilt falling apart at the seems. Your phone isn’t charging on the nightstand next to you. And to your surprise, you see the year 1855 carved into the side of the kitchen door.

“Yesteryear” explores one of the most controversial Internet trends that’s arose in the past decade, and asks if what these influencers are pushing is all that it’s really cracked up to be. Burke writes with a sharp eye, combined with fast-paced prose that makes readers unable to put the book down. Pick this one up quickly, as I can almost guarantee it’s going to be on every top 10 list of 2026. "

"I wonder if the translation let this novella down? It was clunky, American English, and made me feel like an American teen had written it. Japanese literature that I've read is often quirky and a little odd (see Murakami!) but usually odd in a good way. This just left me a feeling a bit cold.

The part I liked was the part with the cat, but much of the rest left me unmoved. The storyteller has been given days to live, but then the devil appears & tells him that if he gets rid of 'something' from the world, he can buy himself an extra day. I felt it was obvious that you get rid of something bad or unobtrusive, like brussel sprouts, but this guy gets rid of telephones...

The ending was a bit too heavy on the sweet, and there was something just not quite right with the whole story. More cat, less dying man perhaps?
With thanks to Netgalley for my copy to review."