Yesteryear begins as a women’s fiction slice-of-life story that quickly devolves into something much more original than that. It is a must read if you feel that every story has already been told.
Natalie is unsatisfied with her life. Raised in an evangelical community, she chafes at the boundaries of traditional feminist. She wants a career—not just a brood of children and constant housework. She happily gets a full scholarship to Harvard. Where she soon hates her feminist fellow students. But then she meets Caleb, a child of a prominent political family. He wants a farming lifestyle, and Natalie wants a handsome, and rich, husband so they marry. Soon, Natalie is pregnant and dropping out of college.
Zoom forward to Natalie’s life a few years later, she is pregnant with her sixth child and making a fortune off of her #tradwife social media following. Sure, she has two nannies and a totally modern hidden kitchen behind the old timey kitchen set she uses to record. But she is relatively happy.
Then one day, she wakes up cold in an unfamiliar bed. She appears to have been transported to what her farm would have been like in 1805. No nannies and not even electricity. Her family has also changed in subtle ways. What is going on? Is she dreaming? Has she been kidnapped? Is God trying to teach her a lesson? Or is something even weirder going on?
Yesteryear is an experience. Sure, Natalie is unlikable. I kind of wanted her to fail throughout the majority of the book. And the book is long. But how often can you read a totally original tale? 5 stars and highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me with an advanced review copy.