Yesteryear: A Novel-Caro Claire Burke, author; Rebecca Lowman, narrator
Natalie Heller Mills was raised by a single mom with secrets. She was brought up in a home with strong, Christian values. She was taught to do the right thing, but Natalie didn’t always see the right thing the way others did. She seemed to be short on empathy and long on her own opinions. When she went off to college in a liberal bastion, Boston, she was a fish out of water. She and her roommate, Reena, were not compatible. Natalie wore prairie dresses, braided her hair and was studious. Reena was more modern and far less moral and modest. Natalie was lonely and adrift, so she eventually started going to church. There, she met a young man, Caleb Mills. He came from a very wealthy family. He was the son of a successful and powerful politician. As they became friends, their relationship grew. They became engaged, then they married. She was soon pregnant. She decided to leave school.
Natalie had achieved her dreams. She had an MRS., she was a wife and would soon be a mother, but she discovered, after Clementine was born, that she was not that maternal, and Caleb had very little ambition. He was simply not a very capable man. Money was not a problem for them, since his folks were supporting them, but she wanted him to be more responsible. After time passed, she confided in her mom and then approached his parents with her disappointment in Caleb. She devised a plan to make him more independent. She made an offer to buy a cattle ranch in Oregon, and it was accepted. She convinced Caleb’s father to give her the money. Then she convinced Caleb to go along with the idea without telling him that the ranch had already been purchased. The cattle farm was on a beautiful property. However, Caleb absolutely refused to raise cattle. He decided to raise vegetables instead. Unfortunately, that was not profitable. As time passed and the family grew, Natalie worried about money. She could not keep asking his folks for more.
Natalie became a successful influencer. To her followers, she was enjoying her life in a remote area, going back to the basics, living off the land, baking her own bread, homeschooling her children. She was, however, unbeknownst to her online followers, not doing it on her own. She was using modern technology. She hired a teacher to home school the children. She hired two nannies to care for the children and ranch hands to help Caleb with his chores. Also, though supposedly farming organically, she secretly used pesticides. From the outside, she was a “good wife”, what was called a “trad wife”. She had returned to traditional values.
As her successful online presence grew, she realized she needed a producer for her public relations. Shannon was young and pink-haired. She had a nose-ring. She was quite different than the staid Natalie. She was also a bit surprised when she moved to the ranch and learned more about the operation. She began to take a closer look. She became aware of Natalie’s many pretenses with her followers. Then, Shannon seduced Caleb, and influenced Clementine, their eldest daughter, to want a broader education and outside life. Clementine had always been a bit headstrong, and to Natalie, even a bit malevolent. Shannon even secretly gave her a “forbidden” phone to Caroline. Would Shannon’s influence bring disaster to the ranch and their lives?
One morning, after Natalie learns of Caleb’s infidelity, her life is unalterably changed. After confronting Shannon, she loses her temper. She is forced to ask her father-in-law for help, once again. She thinks she can solve her problems, as usual, by manipulating the people and the facts, but in the morning, although she wakes up to familiar surroundings, they are also unfamiliar. She is cold and her blanket is coarse; she soon realizes that something is wrong. Then, she hears the sound of children, and she thinks, okay, this is a prank. She goes to the kitchen, but does not recognize the children there, even though they call her mama. There are no modern appliances in this primitive kitchen. There is no indoor bathroom. There is an outhouse. The red barn is there, the mountains are the same, but this is not her home. She has been thrust into the past, into the actual world that she had pretended to live in for her followers. Where was her real world? She was terrified. Had she been kidnapped? Then she thinks she is on a television set, and decides that soon they will come and tell her it is all just an act. Then she decides that G-d is testing her. She keeps asking the bewildered children where she is? She tries to escape, but fails. There is a man who is supposedly her husband. He physically abuses her. He is called “old Caleb”. What has happened to Natalie? Is this real or a nightmare she will awaken from? The oldest child in this shabby home is Mary. She seems to be more like the mother of the family, and she orders Natalie around.
As the story moves back and forth from the primitive house in “Yesteryear”, that seems to be in the past, in the 1800’s, to the beautiful home in “Yesteryear”, in the present time, Natalie’s life is slowly revealed, as is her behavior and her interaction with those around her. She refers to those who don’t appreciate her lifestyle and her success as “the angry women”, those who do not think they need to be either good wives or good mothers, according the Natalie’s judgment of what those conditions mean. They are the privileged. She often seems judgmental and cold.
Natalie took the lessons she learned from her mother, coupled it with her experiences, and used religion to the extreme. Although religious zealotry seemed to be guiding her, she seemed to easily justify breaking the rules, speaking and behaving sinfully when she deemed it necessary. Who was ultimately at fault for Natalie’s failures and her descent into a world of fantasy and unreality? Was it her upbringing, her in-law’s pompous religiosity and behavior that was motivated by ambition, was it the power of the pulpit, the power of imagination, the power of social media and the so-called virtuous posters, on both sides, faithful and faithless, that caused Natalie’s mind to fracture? Was Caleb really incapable of success? Was he totally irresponsible? Did Caleb and Natalie bring about each other’s destruction? Was Natalie manipulative or was she being manipulated? What defines a good wife? Is a good wife expected to be totally obedient? What defines a good husband? Does manly mean abusive?
What was Shannon’s true motive? Was there really a sexual assault? In the final analysis, should the world and the online followers have automatically believed Shannon’s accusations, when she could have easily manipulated the information? Did she lie at all? Who was telling the whole truth? Although Natalie lacked empathy, weren’t those who judged her also lacking in empathy? Did Clementine do the right thing in the end? Why was Reena chosen to do the interview with Natalie? Did Natalie once have the perfect family, the perfect life? What made it perfect or imperfect?
This book is very creative. Suffice it to say, it truly examines the lifestyles of those who pretend to be virtuous and those who might really be virtuous, on all sides of the political, social and religious spectrum. What effect does extremism and social media have on the well-being of society? Who are the truly virtuous? How do you define virtuous goals? If it makes you feel good, is it necessarily the right thing to do? What happened to Caleb? Was prison the appropriate place for Natalie when she was so unstable? Was there a political message presented? At the end, there were so many contradictions and alternatives to consider.