This book is already being adapted into a movie by Anne Hathaway
If you thought that Anne Hathaway has no time for anywhere with her busy schedule, think again. Although Miss Hathaway is busier than ever now The Devil Wears Prada 2 standing on the doorstep, she is taking on even more. Besides the new film Mother Mary and her role as Penelope in The Odyssey, our favorite actress is taking on a new challenge: she is stepping into the producer's chair. She has set her sights on a story by Caro Claire Burke that has just hit the shelves: Yesteryear. The book about a tradwife-wannabe that has the entire internet in its grip less than a month after its release. What is this book about, you ask? This is everything you want to know about the book and the upcoming film.
Huh? Anne Hathaway is going to adapt a book that has just been released?
Yes, you heard it right. Although this book has only been in stores since April seventh, the rights have already been sold. In fact: Amazon had the rights for a film adaptation even before the book was released. When that happens, you know it's a killer story. Anne Hathaway saw this too, as she has committed to this project to bring it to Hollywood. Why did she immediately think that this book – and thus automatically the film adaptation – would be so successful? It has everything to do with the story: it tackles a discussion that has been simmering for months: tradwife influencers. Is that lifestyle empowering or is it a step back in time?
Yesteryear is basically a ‘what if tradwives really had to lead that life’-fiction.
Because yes: maybe you haven't seen them yet, but the internet is full of tradwife-like influencers. These are (young) women who glorify being a housewife in videos filled with aesthetically pleasing homes, gardens full of flowers, and sweet children playing. Creators like Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman know exactly what they need to do to sell the image of a traditional woman (or tradwife). They wear beautiful dresses, make all their food from scratch, and they are very happy to ‘have the honor of doing this’. Of course, it is everyone's right to want to be a housewife, but by presenting this lifestyle through rose-colored glasses, no one sees what happens behind the scenes.
This is also true for Nathalie Heller Mills. In Yesteryear, she is an influencer and mother of six children. She lives with her cowboy husband (yes, it's as hot as it sounds) on a large ranch, and her life revolves around making beautiful videos. Her kitchen is always perfectly clean, the children are neat and always look like they just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren commercial. She sells raw milk and her lifestyle to millions of followers around the world. This is the life she always dreamed of, until Nathalie suddenly wakes up in the reality of her fantasy: the beginning of the 19th century. Here she has no rights, cannot make her own decisions, and is really nothing more than a breeding machine. As she tries to survive, the question of what exactly happened here plays in her mind. Did Nathalie actually travel back in time? How? She didn't touch a magical stone like Claire in Outlander... Or is this some sort of out-of-control experiment she has landed in?
That fantasy is not as beautiful as Nathalie thought
Exactly that fantasy versus reality is what makes this story appealing. What happens when you suddenly place a Hannah Neeleman-like influencer in this era? That life of being self-sufficient on a farm with ten children seems very nice, if you can still shower and order Taco Bell when you don't feel like cooking. In Yesteryear, this becomes reality. Everything that looks so perfect online is now being brutally unmasked.
Personally, I am curious, especially now that we know that Anne herself will play the lead role. Can you, like me, not wait for this film to come out in some time? Then we can happily the book read it already. I know what I will do this May holiday.
