Review: In a new thriller, a tradwife influencer wakes up in 1855

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Book ReviewYesteryear By Caro Claire Burke Knopf: 400 pages, $30If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.Depending on your appetite for schadenfreude, it’s been an upsetting or entertaining news cycle for faith-forward influencers.Formerly Mormon content creator Taylor Frankie Paul, who ascended from TikTok virality to unscripted stardom in Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” was stripped of her titular role in “The Bachelorette” just days before the season premiere after a string of domestic violence allegations and a leaked video that exposed her physically assaulting ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.

Days later, Paul’s “Mormon Wives” co-star Jordan Ngatikaura filed for divorce — via TMZ — from wife and fellow cast member Jessi Draper.In an interview on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Draper revealed a tumultuous relationship with Ngatikaura, in which he allegedly controlled, surveilled and emotionally abused her.This is the stage set for the release of Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel “Yesteryear,” a satirical thriller in which Christian tradwife influencer Natalie awakes in an 1855 homestead with no explanation and no escape.

The farmhouse is crumbling, the children are strangers and the woods are laced with bear traps; unsure whether she’s a victim of kidnapping, an immersive reality show or a divine test of faith, Natalie must perform her God-fearing wifely duties in earnest while uncovering the truth.Tradwives and mommy bloggers are characterized by a cartoonishly slick and sanctimonious femininity; they perform choreographed dances with obedient children, bake sourdough bread, offer prayers and affiliate codes in the same breath.Tapping into the soft skills that for millennia have allowed women to profit outside the bounds of conventional economy,...