Yesteryear with Caro Claire Burke Trad Wives, Secret Lives & Twist Ending (Spoilers)

This week, Kate sits down with Caro Claire Burke, author of the hit debut novel Yesteryear, the trad wife time travel thriller that triggered a publishing bidding war, has already been optioned by Anne Hathaway, and is Good Morning America's April book club pick. They discuss a variety of topics within the book (with spoilers, FYI), including how you write an unreliable narrator whose worldview fundamentally opposes your own, the layers of performance that start with God and end with the algorithm, why Natalie is deserving of sympathy as both a victim and a bad person, the Ballerina Farm and Ruby Franke parallels, Caleb as a vacant vessel, why the twist ending had Kate pacing at 2 AM rethinking her life choices, and how the epilogue reframes everything. They also detour into Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and the Taylor Frankie Paul of it all, plus sleepover discourse against Caro's will, how they both relate to Natalie's experience with being publicly perceived, and Caro's experience selling the book and film rights before the book was even finished. Spoilers throughout. Enjoy! Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here ! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! TIMESTAMPS (SPOILERS BELOW): 0:00 Intro, Kate's reaction to Yesteryear 17:30 Interview begins, creating Natalie's voice, writing an unlikable unreliable narrator 22:00 Layers of performance: God, family, social media, the surveillance of being watched your whole life 35:00 Ballerina Farm, Ruby Franke, who Natalie is based on, how much influence trad wives actually have 47:30 Caleb and the manosphere, the breeding contract, selling a trad wife novel when everyone thought Kamala was going to win 55:00 The liberal feminist case for the trad wife, the failure of lean-in feminism, women sharing survival tips 1:01:00 The ending explained: the twist, the psychosis, what's real, and the epilogue 1:21:00 The meta conversation: parasocial relationships, being a public person, deification to dehumanization 1:28:00 Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Taylor Frankie Paul, justice for Whitney, Connor vs. Zach 1:58:00 Anne Hathaway, how book-to-movie deals actually work, and what Caro wants readers to walk away with This Mother's Day, give the gift that shows up every single night. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code BETHEREINFIVEBOGO for an exclusive Buy One, Give One offer running from April 12th to April 18th on sheet sets and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cozy Earth here. For the person who makes everywhere feel like home. For a limited time get 40% off your first order PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to Hungryroot.com/bethereinfive and use code bethereinfive. That's Hungryroot.com/bethereinfive , code bethereinfive to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. Refresh your spring wardrobe with Quince. Go to Quince.com/bethereinfive for free shipping and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to Quince.com/bethereinfive for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com/bethereinfive . Instead of striving for perfect health, aim for supporting foundational health. Save 25% on your first month at Ritual.com/BETHEREINFIVE . That's Ritual.com/BETHEREINFIVE for 25% off your first month. Way Day is THE sale to shop the best deals in home – we're talking up to 80% OFF with fast and FREE shipping on everything! Head to Wayfair.com April 25th through the 27th to shop Way Day. That' Wayfair.com . Wayfair. Every style. Every home. KEYWORDS: Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke, Yesteryear book review, Yesteryear ending explained, Yesteryear spoilers, trad wife novel, Yesteryear book club discussion, ballerina farm, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Anne Hathaway Yesteryear movie, Diabolical Lies podcast, trad wife discourse, BookTok, GMA book club April

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Yesteryear with Caro Claire Burke Trad Wives, Secret Lives & Twist Ending (Spoilers) is an episode from Be There in Five by Kate Kennedy.

This episode is 02:07:05 long.

This episode was published on Apr 9, 2026.

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