April 2026

We have been hearing a lot of buzz about YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke, and I see why. I loved it from page one.

Let me start my thoughts about this book by saying that I am amused by online influencers who create content for Instagram (and TikTok, though I am not on there), hawking how they cook, bake, decorate, make cocktails, clean, fold, and whatever else comes into their imaginations. As a child, I remember pretending I had a cooking show as I made mix cakes, but we never filmed this and it was not shared. Now, it seems like there are tens of millions of content makers, and I am sure there is a kid out there with a cooking video series.

On top of that, there are people who make fun of Instagrammers, and they have their own followings. There are times when I feel like life online is some parallel universe, but then I see it’s very real. Almost too real.

So, when I find a book like YESTERYEAR --- where the protagonist is a trad wife influencer who lives on a farm with her family, a farm that she had her husband’s father buy for them, and he is a politician who has his eye on the White House --- I am all in to see the messiness behind the scenes, which is certainly there. But this book takes the story a step further when the wife is transported back to 1855, where suddenly she is doing the laundry in cold water with lye soap, knowing all too well that a machine would make this task a lot easier. Readers will try to figure out what exactly is going on.

But in no way was I prepared for what happened and what was brilliantly outlined on the pages. It is hard to believe that this is a debut novel.

There is lots to talk about here. Some of it is cringeworthy, but I still enjoyed it. It’s a unique mashup of a family saga, social commentary, historical reenactment and satire. I can see why it was snapped up by a publisher so quickly and why it was bought to be adapted into a film starring Anne Hathaway, who also will produce it. It will make for a great book group discussion. And I will go out on a limb now and say that I think it will be the Book of the Year!