Yesteryear

I thought the twist was very clearly foreshadowed. I’d really like to talk about the clues, but I can’t seem to do a spoiler mask from my phone.

I’ll just say that Maeve’s fever was the clincher.

It was alright but not groundbreaking. Can’t say I was hooked, but finished it because that’s what you do

I felt the twist was only a twist because it was unbelievable. I just didn’t buy the idea that it would be possible to be an influencer on that scale, face a storm of PR and legal challenges with a FIL that domineering and controlling, with the money and power to buy people off could just cut the world out for 10 years with no one coming to sort it out.

Doug wouldn’t have covered up that level of batshit and as soon as Clementine escaped at 16 she’d have brought the authorities down on them straight away, with help from her gran and aunt.

the idea that for 10 plus years Doug’s money kept protecting them to live like that’s just daft.

doug wouldn’t have had her sectioned to clean up the mess and kept Caleb and the kids somewhere normal but out of the way.

as well as how they survived the several years when the ‘neighbours’ / sons were still too young to help preserve their insanity.

it was just silly and unbelievable to me.

I found the dates so jarring too, but because it was obvious she had fallen into some form of religion psychosis where she genuinely believed she was in the 1800s. Caleb let it happen because he could escape.

Agree. The 'Mormon Momfluencer' does seem to be an pretty viable career choice in Utah and suchlike.

I read Natalie as someone who had a poor relationship with the truth and sense of self from the get-go, found what she thought was a way to 'win' at life and when that crumbled, she had a complete mental breakdown. I don't think she was ' inherently cruel' or focussed in her abuse in a Ruby Franke way, I think she was desperately trying to self-preserve to the point of selfishness and the selfishness and desperation combined with the mental health crisis manifested itself in neglect/abuse/cruelty.

The ONLY thing that jarred for me were the dated height notches on the door. She had specifically assigned years to the heights of the children living in the 'past' whereas I would imagine in reality, the concept of time would be more vaguely rooted in the past rather than linear and specific.

Still loved it

It’s a very uncomfortable narrative on a certain sector of online influencers too

I loved it and read it quickly because I was so keen to find out how it was going to resolve itself. None of the adult characters were likeable though which I think puts a lot of people off.

I’ve just finished it. Found it riveting from end to end, I read the vast majority (I.e. after the first 20 pages) this evening. Wow!

Yeah I found it long winded too, but I think also, cleverly, we were supposed to. Living in that way was drab and boring and monotonous and tedious. The so called simple life… with a bit of grass is greener…

I think Natalie was possibly pregnant with Mary when the others left. She hadn’t been born yet I don’t think. And I read it to mean that the older boys went back of their own accord. Cushty life I guess, watching TV in their cabin in the woods all day.

I already knew about the twist, so wasn’t surprised, but I have a question about the ending. We’re told that Clementine escapes with the children when she’s 16, and ends up with Abigail (Natalie’s mother). Did she leave Mary behind as she was too young? Plus, how did Caleb get the older boys back to live as their ‘neighbours’ and provide the food etc if they’d left with Clementine?

I have mixed feelings about the book in general - it’s a really interesting idea, and the way that Natalie was an unreliable and unlikeable character was unusual, but it didn’t really work for me.

I found it a little longwinded and was glad to get to the end.

Quite liked the “twist” but it was a slog to get there. Interesting characters and I think credit to the author that they remained unlikeable throughout.

I loved it. Didn't see the twist coming and was happy to avoid the supernatural. I thought it was really pertinent to the USA today and other places to an extent.

I think some of the dislike is because the main character is unlikeable, and does not get a redemption arc- it doesn’t follow the theory of equilibrium in the typical ‘happy ending’ way.

I enjoyed it and did not see the twist coming.

Loved it.

Didn’t see the twist coming and thought it was well done.

Can’t fathom the dislike for it online.

I really enjoyed it, all the characters are unlikeable but Natalie had me cackling at times. I liked how the two parts were wrapped up as like a PP I would have been put off by a supernatural ending. I’m glad I read it before it was being widely discussed as it would probably have been disappointing to know the twist beforehand.

I quite enjoyed this and have been thinking about it a lot. Caleb’s story is interesting as he was a decent bloke initially? Great with kids and wanted to be a teacher. But she wanted a chauvinist and manipulated him over time into being that. Agree it would be interesting to go back and read again knowing that the full horror of Natalie and what an unreliable narrator she she is.

I felt this was a book of many layers. Women's roles, male manipulation, politics, male roles in a marriage, and mental health and the effect modern living is having. And that despite her psychosis Natalie paid the price . . .

Just finished it. I didn’t love it but wanted to get through it and ever since there’s bits that keep popping back into my mind. I don’t think we were supposed to like any of the characters much tbh.

I’m finding it more thought provoking now, so actually, I think it’s been quite a clever book. The themes are important - the rise of content creators and the implications of social media portraying impossibly perfect lives, the individualism of society these days, the unspoken assumptions about women’s roles/opportunity, the typecasting, the chasms between different generations…

I could not be arsed to re-read it but would be very interesting to read again knowing the twist.

I think she had been taking a lot of medication and possibly had some sort of psychotic break, so waking up in that world was really her being mentally 'present' after not being so for a long time. The way it read, nobody was very surprised by her insisting this wasn't her home or her children, so it's quite likely that this was something that had happened before.

Yes it was upsetting to find out that Maeve was harmed by her home childbirth. She was a sweetie.

I liked it. It was very thought provoking. Natalie was a horror wasn’t she. I was confused about why she suddenly ‘woke up’ in that world though? What made her forget everything? The part about Maeve was upsetting and quite shocking.

I am reviving this thread as I have just finished and also need to share.

I actually liked the twist. I hadn't read any blurb or even the cover as I did Audible, so had no idea to expect a twist which probably helped (although there clearly had to be some explanation for the two timelines).

For me, it was really layered and I keep thinking about different parts of it. I loved the unravelling of Natalie's mind and the fact that she was such an unreliable narrator that I had to start questioning things she had said early on when I had no idea how deluded she was.

I really enjoyed her inner monologue gradually escaping into the outside world and her complete break from reality was built in a way that made it believable for me.

I didn't like anyone very much - but that was ok for me. I thought Caleb was really interesting and his ability to satisfy her sexually once he was no longer being scrutinized or emancipated was a really clever way to make me believe that it really was someone different to OG Caleb. And the brothers being the neighbours.... yeah, I really liked it.

Agree with the disappointed posters. It felt lazy to me - and apparently there’s a film deal so I suspect the book was written mainly to build and audience for a forthcoming film as I otherwise really don’t understand the (seemingly manufactured) hype

I agree with the majority of posters - unlikeable characters just don’t appeal to me, but the premise was intriguing. I wouldn’t recommend.

I listened to the Audible version too. I didn't see the twist coming, but to be honest I was quite relieved as I was afraid it was going gto have some supernatural weirdness going on to tie it all off.