Yesteryear is the book everyone is talking about, so this reading guide is just in time! I'm hearing about it at book club, on the street and even among casual readers and nonreaders. It seems that first-time author Caro Claire Burke has really struck a nerve by writing a dual-timeline book that incorporates two pop culture phenomena: submissive, conservative tradwives and insufferable social media influencers. Sometimes, we love to hate. I think that's one of the main draws of the book. Seeing a narcissistic, self-centered and flawed person like Natalie suffer in a fish-out-of-water time-travel journey to the old West isn't just satisfying. It's a proverbial trainwreck that we just can't look away from.
Despite all the praise, the reviews are polarizing. A lot of the controversy has to do with Anne Hathaway’s upcoming satirical sci-fi/horror adaptation. What?! This classification is a far cry from the psychological thriller that the book is labeled as. Interestingly, Amazon MGM Studios acquired the rights to the story in a competitive bidding war back in July 2024, according to IndieWire. Emmy-winning screenwriter Hannah Friedman, known for Obi-Wan and Willow, has been writing the script.
All of this happened nearly two years before Yesteryear was released in April 2026. Hmmm. This interesting timeline has prompted some readers to speculate that Burke rushed to finish the book before the film moved forward. Yes, there are some continuity issues in the book, but they may only be rookie mistakes. And the ending itself is controversial. Whether you love it, hate it or feel indifferent, Yesteryear is worth reading just for the discussions that will follow. Plus, if you’re like me, you have to find out how the author envisioned the story before Hollywood takes a crack at its own adaptation.
With that, here are recipes, drink pairings and discussion questions to help you get through this 400-page book that’s on nearly everyone’s reading list.
Yesteryear
by Caro Claire Burke
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A GMA BOOK CLUB PICK - A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (SO FAR)
A tradwife influencer suddenly awakens 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 in this sensational debut novel from Caro Claire Burke.
“A bold and biting satire, Yesteryear ... will have you cackling and gasping right to the final page.” – Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid series.
Cookbook & Recipe Pairings for Yesteryear
Food blogger and influencer turned Food Network star and author Molly Yeh went from being a Juilliard-trained percussionist who performed with ensembles around the world to living on a sugar beet farm on the North Dakota-Minnesota border. While her background and farm life might sound similar to some tradwife influencers, including Natalie, Yeh doesn’t fall into that category for many reasons. However, her cookbook is still filled with homemade dishes inspired by her heritage and her farm.
Sweet Farm!: More Than 100 Cookies, Cakes, Salads (!), and Other Delights from My Kitchen on a Sugar Beet Farm
by Molly Yeh
More than 100 dessert recipes for sweet treats from New York Times bestselling author and Food Network star Molly Yeh's cozy farmhouse kitchen on a sugar beet (and wheat!) farm, to be shared in potlucks, set on the counter for family snacking, or scarfed down in one sitting.
Molly Yeh's favorite childhood memories are of being in the kitchen with her family, dipping into a tub of sugar to make rugelach, homemade Oreos, and other from-scratch baking favorites, so it's only fitting she married into a family who farm sugar beets. She and her husband, Nick, live and work on the Hagen Farm in East Grand Forks, MN, on the North Dakota border, which has been in operation since the 1870s, and farming sugar beets since the 1930s. In the decade plus since she moved to the farm, Molly has spent her time completely immersed in the world of sugar, both during her work hours, first as a baker and now as a recipe developer, bakery owner, and Food Network personality, and in her home life, running her business and family against the backdrop of the seasonal needs of a thriving farm.
Molly speaks fluent sugar, so recipes for sweets come naturally--as does her drive to perfect them in flavor, texture, and ease of making. The recipes in this beautiful baking book include a mix of church cookbook-inspired gems, from-scratch versions of nostalgic sweets, and new concoctions with flavors drawn from her Asian and Jewish backgrounds as well as beloved Midwestern traditions she's adopted from her husband's family and the local community.
Sweet Farm! features cookies, bars, salads, dessert for breakfast, cakes, pies, no bake sweets, and drinks, ranging from 5-minute treats to weekend project showstoppers. Favorite recipes include:
- Chewy Frosted Tahini Cookies
- Rhubarb Rose Bars
- Black Sesame Babka
- Blueberry Cream Cheese Bagel Chip Salad
- Sprinkle Cake 2.0
- Saffron and Cardamom Tiramisu
- Marzipan Soda
As with all of Molly's books, Sweet Farm! will include recipes that are both homey and excitingly original, charming and funny stories of family life built around the agricultural year, and beautiful photos and illustrations. Home bakers around the country will love Molly's peek into her life--muddy boots, sticky fingers, and all!
Recipe & Food Pairing for Yesteryear
Clabber Girl Can Old-Fashioned Biscuits
You don’t have to go back to the 1850s to bake like it’s the 1850s. The Clabber Girl corporation, best known for their baking powders, has been found in American kitchens since the mid-1800s, especially in the South. In the 1940s, after a decade of printing recipe books for customers, they decided to put their best one right on the can of their iconic baking powder.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ tsp Clabber Girl baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup of vegetable shortening
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 tbsp soft margarine or butter
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 475°.
- In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, Clabber Girl® Baking Powder and salt.
- Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the milk all at once.
- Using a fork, stir just until moistened and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl (dough will be sticky).
- On a floured surface, lightly knead dough with floured hands for 30 seconds or until nearly smooth.
- Lightly roll dough to 3/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, dipping cutter into flour between cuts.
- Place biscuits close together on a lightly greased baking sheet.
- Brush tops with soft margarine. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Source: Clabber Girl
Cocktail & Mocktail Pairings for Yesteryear
Sherry Cobbler
Take another jump back to the 1800’s with this traditional cocktail. Created as a drink to beat the sweltering heat of summer, this cool and boozy drink made summer days a little easier before modern conveniences.
Ingredients:
- 3 oz dry amontillado sherry
- ¼ oz. simple syrup
- 1 orange half wheel
- Orange half wheel for garnish
Directions:
- Add the sherry, simple syrup, and orange half-wheel to a cocktail shaker with ice
- Shake well
- Pour into a highball glass with crushed ice and garnish
Source: Liquor.com
4th of July Coconut Coolers
Straight from the account of mom influencer @soberishmom, this non-alcoholic 4th of July themed frozen drink wouldn’t look out of place on Natalie’s account. So, why not indulge in a sweet drink while you read.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 oz. red fruit juice
- 2 oz. coconut water
- 2 oz. coconut milk
- 0.5 oz. agave
- 0.5 oz. lime juice
Directions:
- Freeze about 2-3 oz. red juice in flutes overnight.
- Mix 2 oz. coconut water with 2 oz. lite coconut milk, 0.5 oz. each agave and fresh lime juice in shaker.
- Strain and serve over in the frozen glasses.
Source: @SoberishMom on Instagram
Yesteryear Book Club Discussion Questions
- How did the book address both the effect of social media influencers and specifically tradwife influencers on other, especially mothers or those looking for a “better” way of life? Are there topics around these types of influencers you wish the book had addressed more or better?
- What do you think happened to Natalie after the Shannon incident? What pushed her to such an extreme solution? Was she moving away from sanity the entire time? How do you think the book addressed mental health, especially postpartum depression?
- Compare Natalie’s first set of children, Clementine, Samuel, Stetson, Jessa and Junebug, with her second set of children. How do the second group of kids mirror the first? How do Clementine and Mary play similar roles in mothering their mother, including offering her a compassion she was not able to give or receive as a mother herself?
- Do you feel like the story lost something when the twist was revealed?
Related Reads
The Perfect Wife
The idea of being the “perfect” wife, having the “perfect” husband and the “perfect” life drives Natalie to really embracing her tradwife life. But what about other tradwife influencers? Were they driven to #tradwife life by their marriage, societal influences or a deep desire to turn back the clock? What if it was something more sinister? Something dark hidden behind the facade of perfection, demanding more?
Perfect Modern Wife: Escape Isn't on the Chore List
by Kristen Van Nest
When successful executive Audrey visits her old friend Jessica at a dating retreat run by their estranged friend-turned-Trad Wife influencer McKinley, she can't help but feel something is off, especially since they won't let her see Jessica until the retreat is over.
The Perfect Mother
The creation of social media took the isolating and lonely feelings away from mothers by putting the private moments online and showing others that they aren’t the only ones going through it. While that's great in concept, what it turned into is a public performance pushing clicks and purchases. It fully absorbs both the viewers and the creators, oftentimes to the detriment of their mental health. Here is a deeper look into the rise and glorification of momfluencers.
Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture
by Sara Petersen
On Instagram, the private work of mothering is turned into a public performance, generating billions of dollars. The message is simple: we're all just a couple of clicks away from a better, more beautiful experience of motherhood. Momfluenced considers what it means to define motherhood for ourselves when society is determined to define motherhood for us.
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