Yesteryear

Name: Yesteryear
Author: Caro Claire Burke

by Caro Claire Burke

Genre

Fiction, Contemporary, Horror, Suspense

Year

2026

Pages

400

Contents

Overview

Yesteryear follows Natalie Heller Mills, a woman shaped by strict faith, ambition, and a hunger for belonging. After leaving Idaho for Harvard, she marries wealthy Caleb Mills and gradually trades academic promise for marriage, motherhood, and the dream of a rural life that can be made meaningful, beautiful, and marketable.

The novel moves between Natalie’s modern homestead-influencer life at Yesteryear Ranch and a terrifying pioneer-like version of the same world, where a harsher Caleb, unfamiliar children, and primitive domestic labor trap her in a distorted family role. Across both threads, Natalie struggles to understand what is real, what is performance, and what obedience costs.

At its center is a conflict between image and survival: faith versus control, motherhood versus selfhood, nostalgia versus violence, and the seductive fantasy of a simpler past against the brutal realities hidden beneath it.

Plot Summary ⚠️ Spoilers

Natalie Heller grows up in a strict Idaho household governed by faith, reputation, and expectations for women. Her father disappears with another woman, but her mother, Eliza Heller, preserves appearances by treating him as dead. Natalie’s intelligence and ambition set her apart, and a full scholarship to Harvard seems to offer escape from a life of prescribed wifehood and motherhood.

Harvard, however, wounds her almost immediately. Her affluent roommate, Reena Magliotti, pushes alcohol, hosts parties, and treats Natalie’s background as a curiosity. Natalie’s alienation deepens after conflict with Reena, a drunken fight, and social humiliation. She eventually retreats into a single room and a Christian student group, where she meets Caleb Mills, a wealthy, earnest young man from a powerful political family.

Natalie and Caleb’s courtship accelerates quickly. Caleb is drawn to her dream of a mountain farm, while Natalie is drawn to the security and belonging he represents. At their engagement celebration, his mother Amelia and father Doug reveal a polished, status-conscious family world. Natalie recognizes that marrying Caleb may mean becoming his “smiling shadow,” but she steps forward anyway. Their lavish wedding and awkward first sexual experience seal her entry into the Mills family. Later, pregnant and triumphant, she leaves school, believing she has chosen a better path than Reena’s careerist modernity.

Motherhood does not bring the peace Natalie expects. After giving birth to Clementine, she experiences severe postpartum dread and alienation, which her mother minimizes as a problem solvable through duty and exercise. Natalie eventually decides to perform attachment until it becomes real. She also begins to see Caleb’s weakness: he is idle, immature, dependent on his parents, and unable to imagine work. At the Mills estate, Doug and Amelia make it clear they expect Natalie to turn Caleb into a useful man. Natalie rejects small stopgap jobs and instead redirects Caleb toward a performative cowboy-farmer identity.

With Doug’s money, Natalie secures a large Idaho ranch. Doug agrees to fund it only if Natalie promises more children. Caleb embraces the fantasy of farming but mishandles the reality: animals die, the business struggles, and workers become necessary. Natalie curates the ranch online as Yesteryear Ranch, posting a clean, pious myth while hiding failures, debt, hired labor, and exhaustion. She forces conception after Caleb struggles sexually, gives birth to Samuel, then later has more children as the family and brand expand.

Running parallel to this modern story is Natalie’s awakening in a cold, electricity-free version of her own farmhouse, where four pioneer-dressed children call her “Mama.” The household includes stern Mary, gentle Maeve, Abel, Noah, and a brutal “Old Caleb” who looks like her husband but rules by threat and violence. Doorframe markings date the house to the 1850s, and Maeve later names the place Yesteryear. Natalie is injured, trapped, and forced into frontier domestic labor: cooking, laundry, soapmaking, caring for animals, and sleeping under Old Caleb’s authority.

Natalie repeatedly tries to understand or escape this world. A horse that resembles but is not her own, a broken plastic microphone fragment, and the staged perfection of certain scenes convince her at times that Yesteryear may be an elaborate reality show. Yet the pain of a steel trap, her stitched ankle, hunger, cold, and fear are undeniable. Mary becomes both jailer and caretaker, enforcing Old Caleb’s orders while feeding, bathing, medicating, and eventually protecting Natalie. Maeve offers tenderness, while Abel and Noah absorb the violent, gendered rules of Old Caleb’s world.

In the modern timeline, Natalie’s online presence explodes after a far-right talk-show host praises her as an ideal traditional wife using a photo Caleb posted in a forum. Fame brings money, worship, hostility, and distortion. Doug wants her audience for his presidential ambitions, but Natalie resists direct political endorsement. She hires nannies, then hires Producer Shannon, a sharp outsider who understands content better than Natalie does. Shannon’s edits transform chaos into serene motherhood, but she also notices the hidden labor, the children’s discomfort, and the gap between Natalie’s brand and reality.

Shannon’s influence grows. She bonds with Clementine, challenges Natalie’s curated “doing it all” image, and eventually becomes close to Caleb. As Natalie gives birth to Junebug and becomes pregnant again, Shannon and Caleb’s intimacy turns into an affair. Caleb tells Natalie he loves Shannon and wants to leave for New York. Natalie confronts Shannon, who accuses her of building a business rather than a home and predicts the children will resent her. Natalie loses control and briefly strangles Shannon before stopping. She then turns to Doug, who responds not morally but strategically: pay Shannon, bind her with contracts, and push Caleb into politics immediately.

Meanwhile, the Yesteryear captivity becomes more unstable. Old Caleb resumes sex with Natalie during a storm, and she later realizes she may be pregnant. Mary behaves erratically, and Natalie briefly believes God is speaking through her, pressing her to confess. Abel undergoes secret male rites with Old Caleb; Noah is left angry and bereft. When Maeve becomes dangerously ill after a predator massacres the chickens, Old Caleb dismisses the fever. Natalie, who had been planning escape before winter reveals her pregnancy, decides she cannot abandon Maeve and quietly asks Mary about a doctor. Mary admits she knows where to find one.

Mary helps Natalie flee, revealing that the terrifying woods contain only one trap and that marked trails lead to neighbors. Natalie leaves, both loving and resenting Mary, determined never to return. Instead of finding safety, she discovers a remote cabin containing a framed photo of her modern family and evidence that grocery produce is being disguised as homegrown. The shorter neighbor, who had previously visited Old Caleb’s home, calls her “Mama” with disturbing intensity and advances toward her. Natalie runs into the snowy woods, becomes lost, and eventually circles back to the ranch.

In the modern world, Shannon goes public. Clementine appears to have been given a phone to record the truth behind Yesteryear Ranch. Shannon’s televised interview with Erin includes footage of the children resisting filming, allegations about unsafe conditions and animals, and Shannon’s account of Natalie assaulting her. Doug, Amelia, Caleb, lawyers, and the household watch the brand collapse in real time. Doug is furious, Caleb withdraws, and Amelia condemns Natalie. Online abuse and doxxing threats surge, destroying Natalie’s sense of safety.

Caleb then reveals that Doug has discussed having Natalie killed in a staged mountain-road crash to end the scandal. Natalie, medicated and shaken after Caleb slaps her, decides to face Doug directly, believing he may prefer to “fix” her rather than erase her. In the parallel Yesteryear thread, after Natalie fails to escape and returns to Old Caleb, a red Subaru arrives. A woman steps out who looks exactly like Natalie, differing only in hair length. The arrival of Natalie’s double turns the story’s central question—who is trapped, who is performing, and what Yesteryear really is—into an immediate reckoning.

Characters

Natalie Heller Mills

The protagonist, whose life moves from strict Idaho upbringing to Harvard, marriage into the Mills family, motherhood, ranch life, and online fame. Her story centers on the tension between faith, ambition, performance, and the costs of turning domestic life into both mission and brand.
Caleb Mills

Natalie’s husband in the modern timeline, a wealthy but immature man who is shaped by his parents, online forums, and Natalie’s efforts to make him into a patriarchal farmer figure. His weakness, affair with Shannon, and later political ambitions drive much of Natalie’s crisis.
Old Caleb

The harsh Caleb-like patriarch in the pioneer-like Yesteryear world. He controls the household through violence, threat, sexual entitlement, and rigid gender authority, making him the central force of Natalie’s captivity there.
Mary

The eldest girl in the Yesteryear household, responsible for much of the cooking, care, medicine, and discipline. She functions as both Natalie’s enforcer and eventual secret ally, especially when Maeve’s illness forces a covert plan to seek help.
Maeve

The youngest daughter figure in Yesteryear, affectionate and trusting toward Natalie. Her tenderness helps draw Natalie into the household, and her serious illness becomes a major reason Natalie risks escape.
Abel

The older boy in the Yesteryear household, who works with Old Caleb and is inducted into secret male rites. His role shows how boys are trained into the patriarchal order that governs the ranch.
Noah

The younger boy in Yesteryear, anxious, impressionable, and desperate to belong to the men’s world. His fear of crossing boundaries and grief over exclusion reveal how control is passed down to children.
Clementine Mills

Natalie and Caleb’s eldest daughter in the modern timeline. From infancy she is bound up with Natalie’s postpartum crisis, and as she grows older her resistance to filming and possible secret recordings threaten Natalie’s carefully curated brand.
Samuel Mills

Natalie and Caleb’s son, born after the family moves into ranch life. He appears throughout the modern household as part of the growing family Natalie tries to present as orderly and blessed.
Stetson Mills

One of Natalie and Caleb’s younger sons in the modern timeline. His presence adds to the strain of Natalie’s expanding family and appears in footage used to challenge the safety and authenticity of Yesteryear Ranch.
Jessa Mills

Natalie and Caleb’s daughter, born into the height of the family’s influencer era. Incidents involving Jessa, including being left in the car and appearing distressed in footage, expose the gap between Natalie’s online persona and lived reality.
Junebug Mills

Natalie and Caleb’s fifth child, whose homebirth Natalie insists Shannon film. Junebug’s birth shows how even intimate family events become material for the Yesteryear brand.
Shannon

Natalie’s producer, hired to improve Yesteryear Ranch’s content. She becomes indispensable to the brand, challenges Natalie’s authenticity, grows close to Caleb, and later publicly exposes damaging behind-the-scenes footage and allegations.
Doug Mills

Caleb’s powerful father, a politician who funds the ranch and later runs for president. He treats family crises as strategic problems, using money, legal pressure, and political calculation to control Natalie, Caleb, and the public narrative.
Amelia Mills

Caleb’s mother, a polished and fragile matriarch whose image-conscious control masks dependency and distress. She helps define the Mills family’s expectations for Natalie and later condemns her when scandal threatens the family.
Eliza Heller

Natalie’s mother, a pious, reputation-conscious woman whose teachings about duty, kindness, and womanhood shape Natalie’s decisions. Later, her confession about her own past and her rebuke of Natalie challenge the worldview Natalie inherited from her.
Abigail

Natalie’s sister, whose difficult marriage, many children, divorce, and later distance from Natalie provide a counterpoint to Natalie’s own domestic choices. Her struggles expose the practical costs of the ideals Natalie often defends.
Reena Magliotti

Natalie’s Harvard roommate and later a recurring point of comparison. Reena embodies the modern career path Natalie rejects, and Natalie repeatedly measures her own choices and online success against Reena’s setbacks.
Bryce

Abigail’s husband, whose drinking, temper, and meanness contribute to Abigail’s eventual decision to divorce. He represents another version of marriage’s dangers within Natalie’s family background.
Louise Crenshaw

The live-in nanny Natalie hires for the modern ranch household. Louise quickly bonds with the children while resisting inclusion in Natalie’s online brand, highlighting the hidden labor behind Yesteryear Ranch.
Nanny Aimee

Another nanny at Yesteryear Ranch who helps care for the children behind the scenes. Her presence, especially alongside Louise, undercuts Natalie’s public image of solitary maternal competence.
Producer Shannon

The same figure as Shannon in her professional role, defined by her work directing, filming, and editing Yesteryear Ranch content. Her producer’s eye transforms Natalie’s brand while also gathering the material that later damages it.
Tammy Lane

The influencer course leader whose faith-infused marketing program teaches Natalie to pursue online relatability and monetization. Her course pushes Natalie further into treating piety, beauty, and motherhood as a brand strategy.
Cassidy

Tammy Lane’s niece and breakout mentor, who critiques Natalie’s online presence as stiff and unrelatable. Her advice that Natalie practice smiling crystallizes the demand that Natalie make herself marketably warm.
Pastor Ben

The more progressive pastor connected to Natalie’s mother and Abigail. His influence marks a shift in their religious lives away from the rigid beliefs Natalie continues to defend.
Vanessa

An acquaintance who notices evidence of pesticide use and threatens Natalie’s claim to organic purity. Her gossip intensifies Natalie’s fear that the ranch’s public image can be exposed as false.
Bearded talk-show host

The far-right livestreamer who discovers Natalie through Caleb’s forum post and praises her as an ideal traditional wife. His segment causes Natalie’s account to go viral while distorting her image into extremist fantasy.
Erin

The television anchor who interviews Shannon. Her framing foregrounds the power imbalance, the children’s distress, and the assault allegation that accelerates Yesteryear Ranch’s public collapse.
Paul

The lead attorney involved when Shannon’s allegations surface. He helps shape the legal and public-relations strategy to undermine Shannon and protect the Mills political machine.
Natalie’s double

A woman identical to Natalie who arrives at the Yesteryear ranch in a red Subaru at the end of the story. Her appearance signals a major reckoning over identity, captivity, and the nature of Yesteryear.
Shorter neighbor

One of the neighboring men in the Yesteryear world, later found in a cabin removing grocery stickers from vegetables. His fixation on Natalie as “Mama” turns the search for help into another threat.
Taller neighbor

The neighbor who draws Mary’s shy interest and visits the Yesteryear household for dinner. His evasive answers and refusal to help when Natalie claims kidnapping show the surrounding community’s complicity.
Taller younger bearded man

One of the young men who returns with Old Caleb and Abel from the woods. His silent, blank-eyed encounter with Natalie triggers intense recognition and fear.
Younger bearded man

The other young man accompanying Old Caleb and Abel. His presence contributes to Natalie’s sense that a hidden male order operates beyond her understanding.
David Mills

Caleb’s brother, present during Amelia’s collapse at Doug’s reelection event. His response helps show the Mills family’s practiced management of private crisis under public pressure.
George Mills

Caleb’s brother, also present when Amelia collapses. Like David, he belongs to the wider Mills family apparatus that protects appearances during political events.

Themes

Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear is built around a terrifying question: what happens when a woman’s chosen fantasy of tradition becomes indistinguishable from captivity? Across Natalie’s modern rise as a “tradwife” influencer and her waking nightmare in the primitive household called Yesteryear, the novel treats nostalgia not as comfort but as a machine that consumes women, children, and truth.

The violence of idealized womanhood. Natalie is repeatedly taught that a good woman endures: by her mother, by church culture, by Caleb’s family, and by her own public brand. Her postpartum terror after Clementine’s birth is answered with “Get up,” not care; later, Old Caleb’s slaps, confinement, and sexual entitlement literalize the same demand. The frontier household externalizes what her modern life already required: obedience, fertility, cheerfulness, and silence.
Performance and surveillance. Natalie survives by imagining an audience, then builds a real one through Yesteryear Ranch. Social media rewards the image of serene motherhood even as the chapters reveal nannies, debt, dead animals, pesticides, and emotional neglect. Shannon’s filming intensifies this theme: the camera can beautify suffering, but it can also expose it. Natalie’s fear of being watched in the cabin mirrors her dependence on being watched online.
Motherhood as love, labor, and erasure. The book refuses sentimental simplicity. Natalie can be tender with Maeve, frightened by Clementine, resentful of her many children, and still desperate to hold the family together. Mary’s competence and Maeve’s vulnerability complicate Natalie’s claim that “You are not my family,” suggesting that caregiving creates bonds even under coercive conditions. Yet the blurred faces of her younger children show how endless reproduction can thin rather than deepen maternal presence.
Patriarchy as roleplay with real consequences. Caleb’s cowboy fantasy, Doug’s politics, the hidden “MANOSPHERE” cabin, and Old Caleb’s rites for Abel all expose masculinity as performance enforced by money, secrecy, and threat. Men play at being patriarchs, but women pay in bodies, labor, and legal dependence.
Faith, delusion, and moral reckoning. Natalie’s prayers sometimes console her and sometimes justify endurance, ambition, or denial. The novel’s doubling—modern Natalie, pioneer “Mama,” and the final lookalike—turns faith into judgment: not a simple answer from God, but a confrontation with the selves Natalie has created and betrayed.