The uncomfortable familiarity of "Yesteryear"

If you haven't read "Yesteryear," prepare for some familiar, if distorted, refrains from Utah momfluencer culture.

The big picture: The thriller by Caro Claire Burke burns down the pastoral images of tradwifery like stray voltage from a fallen power line — and readers are gobbling up the charred homemade biscuits.

• It's hovered near the top of the New York Times Best Seller List since its release this spring. Anne Hathaway is already planning to star in the movie.

What's inside: "Yesteryear" is the name of a fictional Idaho ranch occupied by the family of a young, conservative Christian woman who quits Harvard to marry the heir of a wealthy politician.

• She gains swift fame for the anodyne, idealized images she posts from her rural mom life in the mountains — until a few things go wrong.

Catch up quick: The character's backstory closely mirrors that of Hannah Neeleman, the Utah influencer who left her dance career after graduating from Juilliard to marry the son of JetBlue's founder and raise their nine kids.

• Neeleman grew an online audience of millions with videos and photos from their Summit County ranch, which shares the name of her online persona: Ballerina Farm.
• She's been called the "Ur-tradwife," showcasing traditional feminine roles with content that valorizes motherhood and domesticity.

What they're saying: "There are so many examples of this vision," Burke told Vogue, citing Neeleman, influencer Nara Smith and the "Mom-tok" celebrities.

• "They're all presenting as perfect mothers who have a crazy hip-to-waist ratio, and many children, and they're always smiling. The thing I really wanted to focus on was that image, because it's propaganda."

Friction point: Some readers have struggled with the novel's antiheroine, Natalie Heller Mills, whose behavior is — spoiler alert — far more distressing than anything captured in even the most critical accounts of life on Ballerina Farm.

Erin's thought bubble: Not every main character needs to be liked, even if they put on a good show.