In 'Yesteryear,' a tradwife influencer wakes up in the time period she’s fetishized

Summary

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NPR's Book of the Day

Episode: In 'Yesteryear,' a tradwife influencer wakes up in the time period she’s fetishized
Date: April 29, 2026
Host: Aisha Roscoe
Guest: Caro Clare Burke, author of Yesteryear

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Episode Overview

This episode explores Caro Clare Burke’s debut novel Yesteryear, a darkly witty, genre-bending tale about Natalie Heller Mills, a “tradwife” Instagram influencer who is transported from her curated, influencer farm life in modern-day Idaho to the stark, unforgiving reality of 1855. The discussion digs into the dangers of romanticizing the past, the contradictions at the heart of traditionalist narratives, and the blurred boundaries between authenticity and performance in our digital world.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introducing Natalie Heller Mills and the Premise

• Natalie's Persona and Social Media Ideal
  • Burke introduces Natalie as an almost mythic figure:

    "A flawless Christian woman. The manic pixie American dream girl of this nation's deepest, darkest fantasies. ... like a nun in a porno. It didn't make sense. But also, by God, it worked. My name is Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive." — Natalie Heller Mills (Read by Burke) [02:18]

  • The novel opens with Natalie boasting 5 million Instagram followers for her perfectly curated tradwife life—raising kids, gathering eggs, and advocating for simple farm values.

The Antihero Complexity

• Unlikable, Yet Compelling
  • Host Aisha Roscoe notes that Natalie is a difficult character to like.
  • Burke responds:

    "I like to think of her as an antihero, but she is certainly a very, very difficult woman. She is ambitious and acidic and rude... sometimes the things that she thinks are things that none of us want to admit." [03:14]

  • Natalie’s coldness with her family and underlying ambition highlight the tension between surface and reality.

Values Versus Action

• Tradition as Performance
  • Roscoe and Burke discuss Natalie’s traditionalism and deliberate religious ambiguity.
  • Burke explains:

    "I was interested in the fundamentalist nature of Natalie's interests… the fundamentalist values that she upholds are about subservience... adhering to certain power dynamics... focusing on those power hierarchies, which I think are very consistent across a number of religions." [03:57]

  • Despite preaching subservience, Natalie isn’t truly subservient; she often takes the lead, even becoming the breadwinner, highlighting underlying contradictions.

Collision with the Real Past

• Wake-up Call in 1855
  • Natalie awakens in 1855—no modern comfort, nothing as she remembers it.
  • Burke on the scene:

    "That's the moment where the reader is basically immersed into the 1800s for the first time... she finds herself in this very uncanny reality of a time period that she has been fetishizing for so long. And it's really terrifying..." [05:18]

  • The jarring contrast between past and present forms the emotional and thematic core.

Paranoia, Performance, and Surveillance

• Blurring Reality and Performance
  • Natalie finds a broken plastic lapel mic in the yard—a modern artifact hinting at either a possible hoax or deeper dissonance.
  • Burke:

    "Surveillance and performance is a very consistent thread throughout the book... she becomes very comfortable with that. But then when you amplify that with social media followers... I think that that can really change your relationship to reality." [06:22]

  • The podcast explores how online life primes us for hyper-vigilance, performance, and paranoia about being watched.

What’s Real, What’s a Performance?

• Audience Reflection Encouraged
  • Roscoe:

    "Do you want the reader to ask some of those same questions?" [07:05]

  • Burke:

    "I don't like putting any homework on the reader, but... you can take these threads about influencers and apply them to your own life." [07:18]

  • She discusses her own struggle to maintain identity against the pressures of performance—even with only “a fraction of Natalie’s fame.”

The Reality of Romanticized Nostalgia

• Dismantling the “Good Old Days” Myth
  • Roscoe:

    "Turns out the food sucks and Natalie immediately injures her foot in an animal trap. ...a lot of people may see these tradwife tiktoks and think, you wouldn't love making Oreos from scratch if you didn't have the double oven and central heat, central air." [08:04]

  • Burke:

    "A lot of people have characterized this novel as a be careful what you wish for... It was really fun for me as a writer to... carry it out all the way and see what happens when we get to the end." [08:28]

  • The story warns against simplistic nostalgia and the consequences of playing out online fantasies in real life.

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Notable Quotes

• On the contradictions of Natalie’s beliefs:

  "She has so much ambition, and like you said, she ends up very quickly being the breadwinner for her family. So it's very ironic, and I think that that type of tension is what kind of leads to her psychological distress." — Caro Clare Burke [04:30]

• On social media and performance:

  "It's all a performance totally for me. ...it certainly makes it harder for me to retain my own identity." — Caro Clare Burke [07:41]

• On wish fulfillment and nostalgia:

  "A lot of people have characterized this novel as a be careful what you wish for. ...It was really fun for me as a writer to... push that theory to its final conclusions." — Caro Clare Burke [08:28]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Premise and character introduction: 02:05–03:14
• Natalie’s antihero complexity: 03:14–03:40
• Tradition and power dynamics: 03:40–04:30
• Waking up in 1855: 04:57–05:18
• Surveillance, performance, and paranoia: 06:00–07:05
• Reflections on reality and performance: 07:05–08:04
• Wish fulfillment and romanticizing the past: 08:04–09:03

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Summary Flow and Tone

The episode interweaves humor and sharp analysis, maintaining a lightly satirical, candid tone befitting both host and guest. Burke’s reflections blend lived experience and fictional perspective, grounding abstract commentary on digital performance in both the character of Natalie and the author's own life. Listeners leave with a sense of the novel’s wit, unease, and relevance to social conversations around authenticity, influence, and the dangers of simple nostalgia.

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Transcript

[Alyssa Nadworny]

Hi, I'm Alyssa Nadworny, and you're listening to NPR's Book of the Day. The concept of the book Yesteryear is so good. A tradwife Instagram influencer who espouses the gospel of homesteading and raising children and living the simple farm life gets transported back to the 1800s where she actually lives on a farm with no electricity, terrible tasting food, and no fancy furniture or modern amenities. It's the debut novel from author Caro Clare Burke. She spoke with NPR's Aisha Roscoe about the dangers of romanticizing the olden days and about trying to figure out what's real and what is performance.

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[Aisha Roscoe]

Welcome to Yesteryear Ranch, where our narrator raises her children on a farm in Idaho. She drinks raw milk and eats farm fresh eggs. She has 5 million followers on Instagram.

[Caro Clare Burke]

And who was I? A flawless Christian woman. The manic pixie American dream girl of this nation's deepest, darkest fantasies. The mother every woman wanted to be and the wife every man wanted to come home to, like a nun in a porno. It didn't make sense. But also, by God, it worked. My name is Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

[Aisha Roscoe]

And then one morning, she wakes up, cold and terrified. The year is 1855. Is it an elaborate hoax? A dream? Or could it be much, much worse? Yesteryear is Carol Clare Burke's, and she joins us now. Welcome.

[Caro Clare Burke]

Thank you for having me.

[Aisha Roscoe]

Tell us about the star of the novel, the person who's putting on this show, Natalie. She's very hard to like. I can't be the first person to tell you this.

[Caro Clare Burke]

No, you are certainly not. I like to think of her as an antihero, but she is certainly a very, very difficult woman. She is ambitious and acidic and rude, and sometimes the things that she thinks are things that none of us want to admit that we. And she's a little bit cold with her children, cold with her husband, but there's a lot that she wants from the world, and she has a hard time reconciling that with what she thinks she should be doing.

[Aisha Roscoe]

Natalie sees herself as someone who is living this lifestyle that is upholding traditional Christian values. But you don't make explicit what her religion is. Was that intentional?

[Caro Clare Burke]

I think I was interested in the fundamentalist nature of Natalie's interests, and that kind of transcends any specific religion. So, you know, the fundamentalist values that she upholds are about subservience. They're about adhering to certain power dynamics. And it was important to me not to be focusing on any one religion so much as focusing on those power hierarchies, which I think are very consistent across a number of religions.

[Aisha Roscoe]

Is that Natalie's values? Is that what drives her is that she's not really subservient? She's the leader of the household.

[Caro Clare Burke]

Right. I think that's the contradiction that I found so satisfying when I was writing it. This woman who might claim to believe in those values, or at the very least, has been raised in a community that espouses those values, but she herself really doesn't act them out. She has so much ambition, and like you said, she ends up very quickly being the breadwinner for her family. So it's very ironic, and I think that that type of tension is what kind of leads to her psychological distress.

[Aisha Roscoe]

And then one morning, she wakes up under a comforter that is not her comforter, and she thinks to herself, this frigid, knotted, lumpy floor is not your Brazilian imported hardwood. Tell us about what is happening in the year of our Lord, 1855.

[Caro Clare Burke]

That was one of my favorite scenes to write. So that's the moment where the reader is basically immersed into the 1800s for the first time. And Natalie wakes up, and she's in her house, but it is not her. And as she kind of ventures farther and farther, she comes across children who look like her children, but are not her children. And she steps outside and she recognizes her property, but, you know, there's no lighting and the chicken coop is falling apart and the barn looks old. And she finds herself in this very uncanny reality of a time period that she has been fetishizing for so long. And it's really terrifying, and it was really, really exciting for me to write as a kind of scene setter for this novel.

[Aisha Roscoe]

We don't wanna do any spoilers, but while Natalie is in the 1800s or in this time period, she does find what appears to be a broken piece of, like, a plastic lapel microphone in the yard. What's going on in her head as she's starting to find these inconsistencies?

[Caro Clare Burke]

Yeah, well, Natalie is very paranoid and very savvy, and she has spent a lot of time online. And so I think that one of the ongoing paranoias she has is that she's being that this is some sort of reality television hoax, and so stumbling upon that really kind of lights her up. Surveillance and performance is a very, very consistent thread throughout the book. And I think it starts for her at the earliest age because she's taught that she is surveilled by a very patriarchal sort of form of religious authority, and so she becomes very comfortable with that. But then when you amplify that with social media followers and thinking, you know, at any given moment in a grocery store, someone might know who you are, I think that that can really change your relationship to reality.

[Aisha Roscoe]

One of the questions that Natalie has to confront is, what is real and what's not real and what's real and what's performance? Do you want the reader to ask some of those same questions?

[Caro Clare Burke]

I don't like putting any homework on the reader, but it's certainly been the topic that I have. The most fun when I'm talking to other people is, you know, how you can take these threads about influencers and apply them to your own life. Like, do differently with my co workers than I do with my husband, probably.

[Aisha Roscoe]

Right. Most people do.

[Caro Clare Burke]

Yeah. And then you think about, you know, how you try to get the right angle when you're taking a picture for

[Aisha Roscoe]

Instagram, put on a show.

[Caro Clare Burke]

Yeah, it's all a performance totally for me. I mean, I have a fraction of Natalie's fame, but it certainly makes it harder for me to retain my own identity. And I would be lying if I had any answers to that, unfortunately. But it is certainly something that that animates my hours, is trying to figure out how I can retain my understanding of myself regardless of what someone online might think of me.

[Aisha Roscoe]

We often romanticize the olden days. Turns out the food sucks and Natalie immediately injures her foot in an animal trap. Is this book a bit of wish fulfillment? Because, you know, a lot of people may see these trad wife tiktoks and think, you wouldn't love making Oreos from scratch if you didn't have the double oven and central heat, central air.

[Caro Clare Burke]

You know, I think a lot of people have kind of characterized this novel as a be careful what you wish for. And I think that's, you know, a totally correct characterization. I think a little bit of what I was thinking about when I was writing the novel is almost like pushing a theory to its final conclusions. I think we have such an obsession right now with moving backwards in time, and that's true with Tradwives, but it's true across the board. And so it was really fun for me as a writer to kind of think, okay, well, let's take that argument and that theory that people are pushing to one another online and let's carry it out all the way and see what happens when we get to the end.

[Aisha Roscoe]

That's Carol Clare Burke. Yesteryear is her debut novel. Thank you so much for joining us.

[Caro Clare Burke]

Thank you so much for having me.

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