(Spoiler Warning: This review discusses major themes and the ending of the novel.)
I finished reading Yesteryear a few weeks ago after going through a bit of a reading slump. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to pick it up because the reviews were so mixed. It kept appearing in my recommendations, yet even Gemini wasn’t convincing me that it was worth reading.
Eventually, I decided to ignore everyone else’s opinions and develop my own.
I’m glad I did.
When I finished the book, I literally put it down and thought,
“What did I just read?”
As a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP), I couldn’t help but read Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke through the lens of mental health. While many readers focused on the novel’s controversial themes, I found myself thinking about shame, religious conditioning, postpartum mental health, identity, and the psychological struggles hidden beneath the surface.
The ending was nothing like I expected.
One criticism I heard repeatedly was that there were “no likeable characters.” On that point, I actually agree. I also saw countless comments from readers saying they hated the book or couldn’t even finish it.
My takeaway?
I loved it! It’s a book that will be discussed for years to come.
Not because I loved the characters, but because I loved the conversations this book creates. It opens the door to discussions about religion, mental health, motherhood, marriage, identity, shame, and the impossible expectations women place on themselves.
Many people reduce this novel to being about “trad wives,” while others believe it mocks Christianity. Personally, I think both interpretations miss the larger picture.
This book is about so much more. There are so many mental health themes hidden in Yesteryear. Lets discuss.
Faith, Fear, and Religious Indoctrination
Natalie was raised in a very conservative Christian household where she was sheltered from worldly influences throughout her childhood. We first see this when she leaves for college and experiences complete culture shock. She is surprised by how different people are because she has spent her life believing there was only one “right” way to live.
She was taught strict religious rules and followed them as if her salvation depended on it.
As I read, Yesteryear, we constantly hear her inner dialogue. She has an inappropriate thought, immediately apologizes to God, and fears she has sinned.
For many readers this may seem excessive.
For me, it felt familiar.
This is what it feels like to be the type of Christian who believes salvation is maintained by perfect behavior rather than by grace. Fear becomes the driving force behind every decision.
Later in the story, Natalie struggles with the idea that her mother begins attending a more “liberal” church where the pastor emphasizes forgiveness instead of rigid rules. Her discomfort isn’t simply stubbornness, it reflects years of religious conditioning during her formative years.
Readers may become frustrated with Natalie.
I understand her. Because I lived it. I was her. It took years of asking questions, listening to different perspectives, and challenging beliefs I had accepted without question before I finally found freedom
If you’ve ever struggled with religious fear or wondered how faith and mental health can coexist, I wrote more about my own journey in My Path From Fear-Based Faith to Freedom in God. In that article, I discuss how fear shaped my relationship with God for many years and how learning about grace transformed my faith.
That is why I appreciated this part of the novel.
Whether someone agrees with Natalie’s beliefs or not, the book gives readers insight into what religious indoctrination actually feels like from the inside. Walking away from deeply rooted beliefs isn’t easy. It takes tremendous courage, and I think this is an area where readers should offer more grace instead of immediate judgment.
Is This Really a “Trad Wife” Story?
Many readers have labeled Yesteryear as a novel about trad wives. While I can understand why they reached that conclusion, I don’t think that’s what the book is really about.
Yes, Natalie dreamed of becoming a traditional wife. She wanted a strong husband to lead the family while she stayed home raising the children. She believed that was her purpose, her calling, and even her obligation. It was the life she saw modeled by her mother, and she spent much of the book trying to live up to that example.
Throughout the story, Natalie constantly compares herself to her mother and feels like she is falling short. She believes her mother successfully raised the family after their father died, and she places that same expectation on herself. Like many of us, she measures her worth against someone she admires, often forgetting that every person’s circumstances are different.
This is where I think many readers missed the larger message.
The novel isn’t simply asking whether women should be trad wives. It’s asking why women so often feel pressured to become whatever society tells them they should be.
Whether that expectation is to stay home with the children, build a successful career, become a social media influencer, be the perfect mother, or somehow do all of those things at once, women are constantly measuring themselves against an impossible standard. Burke captures this idea perfectly when she writes:
“The way some women so willingly compromised every ounce of themselves in the name of building a life for themselves that they didn’t enjoy.”
Yesteryear
― Caro Claire Burke
That quote summarizes what I believe is one of the novel’s central messages. This isn’t simply about traditional wives. It’s about women sacrificing pieces of themselves to become the version of womanhood they believe society expects
It follows a similar narrative. What I believe the author is really trying to show is that women are still trying to conform to whatever society expects them to be. We compromise parts of ourselves, sometimes without even realizing it, because we have an image to protect. This isn’t just a story about trad wives; it is about women in all walks of life.
As women, we also have to recognize that, at times, we become our own harshest critics and even judges of one another. Instead of extending grace, we compare ourselves to other women whose lives look different from our own. Natalie repeatedly refers to another woman as an “evil woman” simply because she criticized her for having several children while staying home. She also carried on a one-sided competition with her college roommate, constantly measuring whose life was more meaningful or fulfilled.
To me, that was one of the novel’s most important messages. Natalie wasn’t simply struggling with society’s expectations; she had internalized them. She viewed every woman who made different choices as either a threat or a standard against which she had to measure herself. Ironically, many readers seemed to do the very same thing. They focused so heavily on the label of “trad wife” that they overlooked the broader message about comparison, identity, and the pressures women place on themselves and on each other.
Postpartum Depression and the Stigma of Mental Health
After Natalie gives birth to her first child, Clementine, we begin to see a noticeable decline in her mental health. Through her internal dialogue, it becomes clear that she struggles to bond with her daughter. The joy and connection that society often expects a new mother to experience simply aren’t there, and she quietly carries the weight of that guilt.
One scene that stood out to me was when the nurse recommended a mental health referral, while Natalie’s mother dismissed her concerns and encouraged her to simply “run it off.” That contrast perfectly illustrates the stigma surrounding mental health. One person recognized that Natalie might need help, while another minimized her struggles as something she should simply push through. It is important to note that according to the CDC, about 1 in 8 women experience symptoms of postpartum depression after giving birth. Yet many women suffer in silence because they feel ashamed or believe they should simply “snap out of it.
As the story progresses, Natalie’s mental health continues to deteriorate, yet no one around her seems to recognize just how much she is struggling. Instead of receiving support, she becomes increasingly isolated in her own thoughts.
Some moments made me wonder whether the author was also hinting at postpartum psychosis, particularly as Natalie described experiencing intrusive thoughts. While postpartum depression is relatively common, postpartum psychosis is much rarer, affecting approximately 1 to 2 mothers per 1,000 births. Although uncommon, it is considered a psychiatric emergency that requires immediate medical treatment because it can place both mother and baby at risk.
It’s also important to recognize that intrusive thoughts alone do not mean someone has postpartum psychosis. Many women with postpartum depression or postpartum OCD experience frightening, unwanted thoughts that deeply distress them. In contrast, postpartum psychosis involves a loss of reality, often with delusions, hallucinations, or severely disorganized thinking.
The novel never gives us a diagnosis, but it opens the door for an important conversation about the spectrum of perinatal mental health conditions. Postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis are very real illnesses that deserve recognition, compassion, and treatment. Unfortunately, shame and stigma often prevent women from speaking openly about what they are experiencing.
I appreciated that Yesteryear didn’t shy away from this reality. Whether intentional or not, the novel reminds us how dangerous it can be when mental health struggles are ignored, dismissed, or misunderstood.
Masculinity, Power, and the Men of Yesteryear
While much of Yesteryear focuses on Natalie, the novel also paints interesting portraits of the men around her. Each represents a different view of masculinity, leadership, and power.
Natalie’s husband appears comfortable allowing her to take on the role of breadwinner while he steps away from the traditional expectation of leading the household. At first, it seems as though he is perfectly content with that arrangement. But is he really?
Throughout the novel, we see the strain this dynamic places on their marriage. They struggle with intimacy, and he is unable to perform sexually in the present day. Yet later in the story, when circumstances shift and he steps into the role of “the man of the house,” that struggle seems to disappear. Was the author suggesting that his identity as a husband had become tied to his sense of purpose, leadership, or masculinity? I found myself asking those questions as I read, and I don’t think the answer is as simple as it first appears.
Then there is his father, the wealthy politician preparing his son to follow in his footsteps. He is manipulative, willing to bribe others, and appears largely indifferent to his wife’s deteriorating mental health. He uses his influence to protect his family’s reputation and seems to believe that money and power can solve almost any problem, even buying the silence of an assault victim.
I didn’t interpret this as a criticism of conservative men specifically. Rather, I saw it as a commentary on what unchecked power can do to a person’s character. Wealth, influence, and status can create an environment where preserving appearances becomes more important than integrity, accountability, or even the well-being of those closest to you.
Just as the novel examines the pressures placed on women, it also asks readers to consider the expectations placed on men, what it means to lead, to provide, and to hold power. In the end, neither the men nor the women in this story escape the weight of those expectations.
Do the Themes Transcend Race?
I listened to a podcaster who argued that Yesteryear was primarily about a white conservative family because the novel lacked much racial diversity. I can understand why someone might come away with that impression.
However, as a Latina who also grew up in a very conservative Christian household, I had a very different experience reading this book.
At no point did I feel like this story belonged exclusively to one race or culture.
The themes the author explores are: religious expectations, family dynamics, motherhood, marriage, shame, identity, mental health, and the pressure to live up to impossible standards- are not unique to white families. They exist across cultures, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
In fact, many of Natalie’s struggles felt surprisingly familiar to me despite our very different backgrounds. While the details of her life may differ from mine, the emotions behind them did not.
That’s what good literature does. It tells one person’s story while allowing readers from many different backgrounds to see pieces of themselves in it.
For me, Yesteryear wasn’t a story about one race or one political group. It was a story about being human. That is why I believe so many readers, regardless of their background, can take something meaningful away from it. That is why I feel my book review offers a different perspective through a very different lens.
Final Thoughts
In the end, after finishing Yesteryear, I believe Claro Burke did a remarkable job of portraying the many roles women often find themselves trying to balance, such as Christian, wife, mother, entrepreneur, daughter, and caretaker. Natalie spent much of her life trying to live up to the expectations placed on her by society, her faith, her family, and ultimately herself. The weight of trying to be everything to everyone slowly became more than she could carry.
To me, one of the central themes of this novel is shame. Shame for not being the perfect Christian. Shame for not being the perfect wife. Shame for struggling as a mother. Shame for not measuring up to the image she believed she had to maintain. Rather than confronting those feelings, Natalie spent much of the story running from them. She never developed healthy coping mechanisms, and she never truly allowed herself to be vulnerable with someone she could trust.
As her mental health continued to deteriorate, the people around her either failed to recognize the warning signs or dismissed them altogether. Whether the author intended to portray a psychotic break or simply a woman overwhelmed by years of unresolved emotional pain, the message remains the same: ignoring mental health struggles rarely makes them disappear. They often grow louder until they can no longer be ignored.
What I appreciated most about Yesteryear was that it refused to give readers simple answers. Instead, it challenged us to think more deeply about faith, identity, motherhood, relationships, social expectations, and mental health. It invites us to look beyond the labels we so quickly place on others and ask what may be happening beneath the surface.
Perhaps that’s the question the novel leaves us with.
How are we carrying the expectations placed upon us?
Are we allowing ourselves to ask for help when we need it?
Or are we, like Natalie, trying so hard to appear okay that we never truly address what is happening inside?
Those are the conversations I believe Yesteryear was really trying to start, and for that reason, I think it is a book worth reading.
Welcome to my blog
A Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) is an advanced practice nurse specializing in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health conditions. Through this blog, I combine professional knowledge with practical, evidence-based strategies to help readers improve their mental well-being and thrive in everyday life.
