Penguin Random House had given me a heads up that this was a “don’t miss” read for 2026 and while it’s not out until April, I need to post about it because I need to tell everyone about this book. I literally am haunted by it. So much going on. So much to unpack. So much to discuss.
Here’s the overview of it:
A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified 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.
“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
My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.
Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.
Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.
A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.
Wow.
That is all I can say. Part of this book had me asking, “What am I reading here?” Part of it had me yelling at the narrator, “No! No! Don’t do that!” Part of me could see the train wreck coming. Part of me could not. This novel made me question a lot of things about the lives we lead, the choices we make, the façade we offer to others. It made me rethink social media, contemplate blind faith, spend time thinking about marriage as a partnership (or not). It was a story that made me want to know more about how to support young mothers and those with PPD. It was a narrator slowly descending into a mental health crisis and we were right along for the journey and questioning everything she was questioning. I haven’t been affected by a book this way since I read Loving Frank about 15 years ago. I am haunted. I am overwhelmed. I honestly want everyone to read this book so we can discuss it. That said, it’s probably not the read for everyone.
Many thanks to PRH for my copy. It comes out in April, 2026.
Beth's Book-Nook Blog 