The Short Version
Today it’s the ending of Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke, and that twist.
The short version: there’s no time travel, no kidnapping, and no reality show. Natalie built this world herself, and she’s been living in it for eighteen years. Let’s break it down.
The Scandal
First, how it fell apart. Natalie’s producer, Shannon, had been having an affair with Caleb. When Natalie confronted her, she strangled her, and let go.
Shannon went on television with everything: the affair, the dying cows, the miserable children, and the day Natalie’s daughter Clementine said, stop filming me.
The Cabin
Back in the strange present, Natalie finally escapes through the woods. She finds a cabin with a truck behind it, ramen on a hot plate, and a word carved over the door: manosphere.
One of the bearded neighbors is peeling grocery store stickers off vegetables. He turns around, and says, Mama.
The Visitor
She runs home. And a car pulls up with a woman who looks just like Natalie did. It’s Clementine, now about thirty.
This isn’t eighteen fifty five. It’s the present day, eighteen years after the scandal. And Natalie is fifty.
What Really Happened
After the scandal, Caleb’s father paid to make it go away. Natalie deleted her account and tore every modern thing out of the house. It started as a game, pretending it was the olden days while they hid from the world.
Then the hiding became the plan. They sold the car, dug an outhouse, and ordered pioneer costumes online.
The Children
When Clementine turned sixteen, she walked her four younger siblings out through the woods, and never came back.
Natalie and Caleb told the baby, Mary, that her siblings were gone. Then they had three more children, and raised all four as if it were the eighteen fifties.
The Neighbors
The two bearded neighbors are Natalie’s grown sons, Samuel and Stetson. For years, they’ve kept the family fed from their cabin with supermarket food, and smuggled in the pills Mary crushes into her mother’s tonics.
And Mary, the stern girl who runs the house, is the baby Natalie was carrying when the book began. Natalie’s pregnancy? It’s menopause.
Why She Forgot
Natalie’s mind broke. Some mornings she wakes up so confused she believes she’s been kidnapped, and her memory resets to the last day of her old life. The first chapter was one of those mornings.
Everything she treated as a mystery was the truth hiding in plain sight.
Clementine’s Choice
Clementine came with a warrant for the four younger children. She takes them, and leaves her mother behind. You built this place, she says. You don’t need anyone’s help to leave it.
Left alone, Natalie and Caleb admit they hate each other. Then she takes his hand, and they walk off the ranch together.
The Epilogue
Five years later, Natalie is in prison, serving thirty years for aggravated child abuse. Her old college roommate, Reena, now a news anchor, interviews her.
Reena reads from a memoir called The Book of Mary. Mary now lives by the ocean with Clementine and her siblings, learning to read, working at a grocery store. She writes that she misses her mother.
The Last Line
The memoir ends with Mary’s first ride on a highway, and the last line of the book: for the first time in my life, I smiled.
The whole book is about forced smiles. Natalie practicing in the mirror. Clementine refusing to smile for the camera. Mary’s smile is the first one nobody is filming.
My Verdict On The Ending
I think the twist is smart, and the last line is perfect. Giving the final word to the child who was raised as content is exactly right.
But how Natalie lost eighteen years is hand waved, and Caleb’s fate is never explained. Tell me in the comments: did the twist work for you? My review and the trend video are linked below.
