Yesteryear

Caro Claire Burke's novel Yesteryear is super hot right now -- there are 230 people waiting to read it at my local library, and coincidentally I ended up reading it at the same time as my elder daughter, who was lent it by her boyfriend's sister (I acquired my copy from the good old Athenaeum). For a while I was ahead, then I got a late night call: 'Mum, have you finished it? We have to talk about the ending!'

It's hard to discuss this book without giving away the twisty plot. Suffice to say that it begins with Natalie, a trad wife influencer, whose perfectly curated online life doesn't match the messy reality behind the scenes. But then it seems that Natalie has been transported back in time, to a genuine pioneer existence which is a lot less airbrushed than her internet lifestyle... I really can't say any more!

Yesterday is perfectly pitched to address our current unease with the slippage between truth and reality, deceit and curation. We have a collective longing for a simpler time, when we baked our own bread and our children played in nature; but does that have to involve constant child-bearing and submission to our husbands? There are multiple layers of deception and self-deception operating in this novel, and it unspools with dizzying and addictive pace. Yesteryear is compulsively readable, and there are powerful ideas stirring beneath its surface. For once, I agree with the verdict of the masses. Yesteryear is a wild ride, and it's one book that deserves its bestseller status. 

One caveat: I'm certain that someone, somewhere, is planning to turn this into a film or a streaming series, but I don't know how they'd be able to make that work. Stick to the book.