I wasn’t supposed to like Yesteryear, which is why I was surprised, and a little embarrassed, to discover how much I enjoyed it—not as a satire of women of faith, but as a dark psychological thriller.
By the time most readers cracked the spine, Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel was already on track to be a bestseller, with Amazon purchasing the movie rights and Anne Hathaway angling for the lead. It has been praised in progressive outlets as a reckoning with the performative, superficial, and ultimately “detrimental” nature of the tradwife movement. Burke’s primary audience—liberal, non-religious women—read it as a vindication: Women who choose traditional families, religious faith, and domestic life are either performing or going mad.
Read Full Article »