The bestseller, now available in Swedish, is already on its way to being adapted into a film starring Anne Hathaway as Natalie Heller Mills. She is an ultra-Christian “tradwife” - traditional housewife - with a large nuclear family, complete with a wealthy cowboy husband. The children are looked after by a staff of nannies and the production team curates a social media feed of homemade dresses and sourdough baking.
There is a lot about the tradwife lifestyle that is appealing, says Burke.
Everyone deserves access to healthy food and to spend more time with their children. I strongly relate to those desires. At the same time, I know that it is also a fantasy.
Conservative backlash
After a public breakdown, influencer Mills is thrown back in time to a technology-free pioneer life in 1855. A kind of "be careful what you wish for" scenario.
"The creation of our digital selves is like a form of time travel. It's really a completely different world, different rules and different social interactions. I don't think we're equipped for that," says Caro Claire Burke, who was inspired by real "tradwife" influencers like Ballerina Farm and Nara Smith for Natalie Heller Mills.
Burke sees the “trad” trend as part of a backlash against the progressive gains that peaked in the US during the Obama era. Under Trump, abortion rights were restricted, which was the start of a conservative wave.
“Psychotic”
Despite the housewife ideal being associated with the Maga movement, Burke has avoided politics in “Yesteryear.” The focus is on the equation between women’s careers, motherhood, and personal freedom.
How are you supposed to work and have any autonomy at all and be a parent at the same time? These are questions that have not been answered at all. Especially not in the US, but also in the UK and certainly not in Sweden either, says Burke.
The debut "Yesteryear" tops sales charts around the world and Burke is still dazed.
"I need a psychologist, it's kind of at the top of my list. On the one hand, it's absolutely fantastic. But it's also completely psychotic," she says.
With great attention also comes wild discussions, something Burke welcomes.
People have such strong opinions about it. And they should, it's their book now.
Born: 1993 (33 years old).
Lives: Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Family: Married to a Norwegian, expecting her first child.
Occupation: Author and podcaster.
Current with: The Swedish translation of "Yesteryear" (Polaris).
Film adaptation of the book: The film rights were sold at a New York auction immediately after the book was sold to the publisher. Caro Claire Burke is attached to the project as an executive producer, but is not writing the screenplay herself.
