How Anne Hathaway Helped Bring Caro Claire Burke’s ‘Yesteryear’ to Hollywood Before Publication
Plus, details on how author Caro Claire Burke will be involved
Key Takeaways
- Anne Hathaway will star in and produce the film adaptation of ‘Yesteryear.’
- ‘Yesteryear’ has spent 17 weeks on ‘The New York Times’ bestseller list.
- The ‘Yesteryear’ movie doesn't have a release date or full cast yet.
Readers, we have some exciting news! Caro Claire Burke’s bestselling novel Yesteryear is headed to the big screen, with Anne Hathaway attached to star. The actress, fresh off roles in The Odyssey and The Devil Wears Prada 2, will help bring the tradwife thriller to life in front of and behind the camera. Here’s what we know about the film so far, including how Burke feels about seeing her debut novel adapted.
First, what is ‘Yesteryear’ about?
The Good Morning America book club April 2026 selection follows “tradwife” Natalie Heller Mills, a mother of six and a successful social media influencer. But when Natalie wakes up one morning to find herself transported back to a time without power or electricity and with a new family, she must figure out how she got there and if she can escape.
“Tradwives were becoming this whole cultural thing, and so I started sharing my opinion, and it ballooned until it was something where I was very much a part of that cultural moment. Because I was thinking about it all the time, I literally woke up one morning and was like, Yesteryear. It was such a world,” Burke told The Creative Independent of the book. “I had the elevator pitch, and I didn’t know yet how she was going to get out, but I loved the idea of pushing this woman to her farthest constraints. I emailed my agent, and she was like, ‘Absolutely, go for it.’ I don’t know if I would have written it in the same way if I didn’t have her at that moment, because I was feeling very burned out. I was feeling like a huge failure. So I was really lucky to have someone who believed in me as a writer.”
Yesteryear currently has over 600,000 ratings on Goodreads and has been on The New York Times bestseller list for 17 weeks.
‘Yesteryear’ movie details
Before the book was even published, the film rights had been sold, with Hathaway producing and starring as Natalie. Burke will also be executive producing the film, and the script will be written by Emmy winner Hannah Friedman.
“Here is what I will say so far—and things are changing all the time—I believe the film is going to be faithful to the book in that way,” Burke told Variety in May of this year. “I’m an executive producer, so I get to stay in touch with big script updates. We have an amazing screenwriter, Hannah Friedman, and she’s doing an incredible job.”
As of publication, the film doesn’t have a release date and there haven’t been any other casting updates. Even so, Burke has shared who she thinks should play Caleb, Natalie’s husband, and the rest of the family.
“I feel like Caleb would have to be someone who isn’t a household name. Someone with a Jesse Plemons vibe could be a good Caleb—he’s so good at being harmless at times and also unbelievably terrifying. He will have to be able to behave in that way to channel Caleb,” she told Variety. “For the father-in-law, I’ve always imagined someone with a Woody Harrelson sensibility. I feel like Woody Harrelson has a crackling energy to him, where, again, he can be really friendly in one moment and then really scary in the next. Those are really the only people I’ve thought about. The children will just have to look relatively like Anne.”
Yesteryear is available for purchase now wherever books are sold.
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