by Cathryn_Conroy: Oh, the hype! And, yes, it’s all true. Even the venerable New York Times fell all over itself with praise and made it their June 2026 online book club selection.
While this is not great literature and will no doubt fade from the literary canon in a matter of years, this psychological thriller is a gripping page-turner that speaks volumes about our current culture.
Written by Caro Claire Burke, this is the story of an Internet influencer who is blatantly and falsely using her tradwife status to find fame and fortune—lots of fame and fortune. Natalie Heller Mills grew up in a poor family—single mom, one sister—in Idaho and studied hard to get to Harvard. Once there, feeling totally mismatched and out of place, she meets Caleb Mills, the youngest son of an incredibly wealthy and political father and a mother addicted to pills. Natalie falls for Caleb and drops out of Harvard to marry him. The fun and romance end with the wedding reception.
Caleb is weak, stupid, and completely unambitious, having no clue what he wants to do. Through some conniving and planning on the part of his frustrated wife and rich daddy, Natalie and Caleb buy a massive farm in the Idaho mountains where Natalie realizes she can make a living for her growing family by posting videos online of how she lives a pioneer-style life. A life that is simple, where everything is done from scratch. Except it’s pretty much a lie. All the appliances and kitchen conveniences are hidden behind cabinets. Also off-camera are the two nannies who care for the five children and the producer who shoots the videos, as well as the hired hands who work the farm fields and care for the animals. Still, she has millions of followers and an online store. She is raking in the money! But what goes on behind the scenes is appalling and if her followers only knew…well, let’s just say, Natalie would be finished.
And then one day, Natalie inexplicably wakes up in her house (but not her house), with her husband (but not her husband), and with her children (but not her children). It’s 1855, and suddenly—like it or not (and she mostly hates it)—Natalie is a tradwife for real. She is horrified and terrified and very, very confused.
The plot twist at the end is big, but the author leaves several small clues and one big clue so we readers who pay attention are not totally blindsided.
While the plot is so compelling that it’s hard to stop reading, I felt torn about the book for one simple reason: Natalie is not a likeable protagonist. She is not only meanspirited and unkind, but also malicious and spiteful. She actively dislikes—and even hates—her family and treats them accordingly. I found it difficult to sympathize with her.
