Yesteryear
Caro Claire Burke, 2026
★ 3.83 from 1.1m ratings on Goodreads
A sharp, funny novel about the performances women give—at church, online, in marriage—and what it costs to keep the smile in place. Wry and restless, the narration keeps you close to a woman performing calm while wonder and unease pull at the seams.
Feels like wonder and unease. About identity, love and ambition.
Who it’s for
You may like this if you enjoy satirical novels about church life, social media and marriage that trust you to sit with an unlikable narrator. Readers disagree sharply about the pacing, and the commentary strikes some as heavy-handed.
Why read it
A sharp, funny look at what it costs to keep a smile in place, and at the anger a woman is told not to have.
A page from the book
The voice policing a woman's anger often wears her own face.
A voice in my head, echoing softly: America hates angry women. The Lord hates angry women. You hate angry women. Do not be an angry woman. What readers say
Readers are split: many found it gripping, provocative, and darkly entertaining, while others were frustrated by its unlikable protagonist, uneven pacing, and heavy-handed commentary. It left some disturbed and others disappointed.
Caro Claire Burke.The word 'yesteryear' first meant simply 'last year' before it drifted into a poetic name for any lost past.
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Questions readers ask
- Is Yesteryear for me?
- You may like this if you enjoy satirical novels about church life, social media and marriage that trust you to sit with an unlikable narrator. Readers disagree sharply about the pacing, and the commentary strikes some as heavy-handed.
- What is Yesteryear like?
- Wry and restless, the narration keeps you close to a woman performing calm while wonder and unease pull at the seams. Feels like wonder and unease. About identity, love and ambition.
- What should I read after Yesteryear?
- If you liked Yesteryear, try Love, Theoretically (Ali Hazelwood), Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray) and Americanah (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie).
A taste of the feed
How a doctorate turns into a side hustle you never put on the CV.
Not that there would be anything wrong: sex work is legitimate work, and people who engage in it are just as deserving of respect as ballerinas, or firefighters, or hedge fund managers. But ten months ago, when I graduated with a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Northeastern, I figured that by now I’d have a reasonably remunerated academic position. I did not imagine that at twenty-seven I’d be paying my water bill by helping adult men pretend that they have dating lives. And yet here I am, fake-girlfriending my way through my student loans.
Love, Theoretically · Ali Hazelwood
The rules for describing racism without making anyone uncomfortable.
If you’re telling a non-black person about something racist that happened to you, make sure you are not bitter. Don’t complain. Be forgiving. If possible, make it funny. Most of all, do not be angry. Black people are not supposed to be angry about racism. Otherwise you get no sympathy. This applies only for white liberals, by the way. Don’t even bother telling a white conservative about anything racist that happened to you. Because the conservative will tell you that YOU are the real racist and your mouth will hang open in confusion.
Americanah · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
What you lose the moment you finally open the last letter.
Either way, I’d fully intended to read the letter. I’d just been waiting for the right time, hoping the worst of my anger would settle and those last words from Dad would be comforting. Instead, a full year had passed and the dread I felt at the thought of opening the envelope grew every day. It was so unfair, that he should get the last word and I’d have no way to reply. To scream or cry or demand more answers. Once I’d opened it, there’d be no going back. That would be it. The final goodbye.
Beach Read · Emily Henry
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