A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister.
Burke spoon-feeds the irony to the reader...but she doesn’t need to: The premise is already an ingenious, exquisite, be-careful-what-you-wish-for ... And in Burke’s biting prose, Natalie is an electric antiheroine ... The two timelines collapse and Yesteryear draws to a dizzying conclusion.
Tackling pop culture ideas of trad wives, social media and the curated reality shown on Instagram, while also exploring more serious themes of religious conservatism, the debut is witty, funny and thought-provoking.
Burke captures much of the zeitgeist in Natalie’s increasingly delusional, overall disturbing state of mind in both time periods—and in other characters’ collisions with it. The seductive topic, unreliable narrator, and surprisingly creepy vibes are sure to draw readers in and keep them guessing.
