9 Of The Best Books Like Yesteryear By Caro Claire Burke

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“And please give my husband a spine. I’m tired of him needing to borrow mine.”

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If you’ve just finished Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear and found yourself craving another story with the same haunting charm, you aren’t alone. Burke’s hit novel won over readers with its masterful blend of emotional depth, vivid world-building, and unforgettable historical resonance. Naturally, finding a book that matches its distinct tone and compelling narrative arc can be quite the challenge. To save you from a post-book slump, we’ve pulled together a curated reading list tailored specifically for fans of Yesteryear. Each pick shares the same core characteristics that made Burke’s novel so special – richly developed characters, layered timelines, and an unforgettable sense of time and place. Read on to unearth your next favourite book, complete with key highlights and why each title earns a spot on your TBR pile. 

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Yesteryear Summary

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them. 

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of her reality. Her home, her husband, her children – they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn’t her perfect life, and she must escape by any means possible. As darkly funny as it is shocking and gripping, Yesteryear is an electrifying examination of tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood. 

Yellowface – R.F. Kuang

First up on our list of books like Yesteryear is R.F. Kuang’s acclaimed bestseller, Yellowface. Authors Juniper Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena is a literary darling while June is a nobody. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse, stealing Athena’s just-finished manuscript, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese labourers during World War I. 

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work and lets her new publisher rebrand it as Juniper Song? This piece of history deserves to be told, whoever the teller. Yet June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence soon threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves. 

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Followers – Megan Angelo

Orla Cadden is a budding novelist stuck in a dead-end job, writing clickbait about movie-star hookups and influencer yoga moves. Then Orla meets Floss – a striving wannabe A-lister – who comes up with a plan for launching them both into high-profile lives. So what if their methods are a little shady and sometimes people get hurt? 

Thirty-five years on, in a closed California village where government-appointed celebs live every moment of their lives on camera, a woman named Marlow discovers a shattering secret about her past. Despite her popularity, Marlow dreams of fleeing her corporate sponsors who would do anything to keep her on-screen. When she learns her entire family history is based on a lie, Marlow finally summons the courage to run in search of the truth, no matter the risks. 

The Stepford Wives – Ira Levin

For Joanna, her husband Walter, and their children, the move to beautiful Stepford seems almost too good to be true. It is. For behind the town’s idyllic facade lies a terrible secret – a secret so shattering that no one who encounters it will ever be the same. 

At once a masterpiece of psychological suspense and a savage commentary on a media-fuelled society that values pursuit of youth and beauty at all costs, The Stepford Wives is one of the best books like Yesteryear if you’re searching for another chilling depiction of traditional submission, female compliance, and the sinister realities hidden beneath “perfect” submissive wives. 

The Farm – Joanne Ramos

Nestled in the Hudson Valley is a sumptuous retreat boasting every amenity, all of it for free. In fact, you get paid big money to spend a few seasons at this luxurious locale. The catch? For nine months, you belong to the Farm. You cannot leave the grounds; your every move is monitored. Your former life will seem a world away as you dedicate yourself to the all-consuming task of producing the perfect baby for your unberwealthy clients. 

Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines and a struggling single mother, is thrilled to make it through the highly competitive Host selection at the Farm. But now pregnant, fragile, and consumed with worry for her own young daughter’s well-being, Jane grows desperate to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm, or she will lose the life-changing fee she’ll receive on delivery – or worse. 

People Like Her – Ellery Lloyd

According to her adoring fans, Emmy Jackson, aka @the_mamabear, is the honest “Instamum” who always tells it like it is. To her sceptical husband, a washed-up novelist who knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth, she is a breadwinning powerhouse, chillingly brilliant at monetising the intimate details of their family life. To one of Emily’s dangerously obsessive followers, she’s the woman who has everything – but deserves none of it. 

As Emmy’s marriage begins to crack under the strain of her growing success and her moral compass veers wildly off course, the more vulnerable she becomes to a very dangerous circle circling ever closer to her family. Similar to Yesteryear, People Like Her explores the darker sides of influencer culture and the perils of parenting online. 

Trad Wife – Sarah Langan

Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic 300-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven perfect children, and a life of from-scratch meals and pastoral bliss, she’s an icon of modern femininity. But behind every perfect marriage is a secret. And in this case, the secret is horror.

Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm to profile Mia. Jenny is ready to write a scathing expose, determined to expose the deception behind Mia’s curated life. But soon, Jenny has more to contend with than staged videos and picture-perfect poses. There’s something wrong at the farmhouse. There’s horror at the heart of Black Swan, waiting just for Jenny. 

Let Me Go Mad In My Own Way – Elaine Feeney

Claire O’Connor’s life has been on hold since she broke up with Tom Morton and moved from cosmopolitan London back home to the rugged West of Ireland to care for her dying father. But snatches of her old life are sure to follow her when Tom unexpectedly moves nearby for work. As Claire is thrown back into a love she thought she’d left behind, she questions if Tom has come for her or himself. 

Living in her childhood home brings its own challenges. While Claire tries to maintain a normal life – obsessing over the internet, going to work and minding her own business – Tom’s return stirs up haunting family memories trapped within the walls of the old house that looms nearby. 

Kindred – Octavia E. Butler

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. 

Dana is drawn repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous, until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has had the chance to begin. 

All The Little Houses – May Cobb

It is the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can’t get for herself, well, that’s what her mother is for. Because Charleigh Andersen, blond, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning, remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top. 

When she was coming of age on the poor side of East Texas, she was a loser, an outcast, humiliated, and shunned by the in-crowd, whose approval she’d so desperately thirsted for. When a prairie-kissed family moves into town, all trad wife, woodworking dad, wholesome daughter vibes, Charleigh’s whole self-made empire threatens to crumble. Who will be left standing when the dust settles? 

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