The Last Days of California

Mary Miller’s debut, The Last Days of California (2013), a young adult contemporary novel with religious elements, follows a teenage girl and her sister as they travel across America with their missionary father. Critics praise the book for its wry humor and relatable characterization, and for offering a fresh take on the typical road-trip story.

Fifteen-year-old Jess Metcalf lives in Alabama with her parents and her elder sister, Elise.

A fundamentalist Christian family, they believe in the Rapture, or the end of days when Jesus will appear to save the faithful and smite the heretics. Although Jess believes the Rapture is real, she struggles to picture the chaos in her mind, hoping that she never witnesses it.



Jess and Elise live in fear of the Christian Church and their evangelical father. They assume they will die or go to Hell if they put a foot wrong. The trouble is, Elise is pregnant, and Jess is the only person who knows. Jess warns Elise that, if they tell their father, he will condemn her and cast her off as a sinner. The girls haven’t figured out what they will do when Elise is too far gone to hide the pregnancy anymore. Elise wonders if she should just admit to everyone that she doesn’t believe in the Rapture, but Jess talks her out of it.

One day, Jess’s father loses his job. He gathers the family in the local Waffle House for an important meeting. He writes the number three in his right hand and tells the girls that Jesus is coming in three days’ time. The Second Coming will take place in California, and he plans to move the whole family out there to witness the miracle.

He tells the girls that, when Jesus arrives, he will gather the faithful and take them back to Heaven with him. Only the sinners will be left behind to deal with the aftermath. Jess is scared, but her father reassures her that she won’t witness the carnage because Jesus will save her. He doesn’t know that Jess isn’t frightened for her own soul. She is terrified for Elise’s soul, even if Elise seems nonchalant.



The family heads for California. Jess’s father stops to buy them all T-shirts for the road. These T-shirts read, “King Jesus Returns!” and earn the family odd glances from passing families. Although Jess believes whole-heartedly in her father’s mission, she cannot help wondering if he is a little obsessive. Rather than fearing the Rapture, he is excited about it. Jess, on the other hand, does not want to die yet. She doesn’t want to die until she’s lived.

Jess doesn’t feel that she can talk to Elise about her feelings. Although she knows about Elise’s pregnancy, they have never been close. Elise is everything Jess isn’t—beautiful, popular, and sweet. Jess, however, decides she has only three days left with her family, and she isn’t going to waste them on petty squabbles. She wants a better relationship with Elise.

At each rest stop, Jess and Elise hand out flyers, encouraging non-believers to repent their sins and save themselves from Jesus’s wrath. While they are handing out flyers, they confess truths to each other. Jess cannot help wondering if the Rapture is real. No one around them seems to think that it is. Elise can’t muster up any enthusiasm for the Second Coming because her own problems are so much larger. She assumes that it doesn’t matter whether Jesus arrives in a few days or not. She is already condemned for premarital sex.



One night, Elise goes missing. She runs off with an older man from a bar. Jess has no choice but to tell their parents. Elise’s father assumes that she has gone forever, but her mother isn’t so sure. She urges Jess to pray with her. They pray for Elise’s safe return and for Jesus to forgive her beauty and naivety. She implies that Jess isn’t beautiful, not realizing how hurtful this is.

For the first time, Jess admits to herself that she is jealous of Elise. She admits that she is not ready for the Rapture, and she doesn’t really believe in it, anyway. She is sick of her parents telling her what to think. It is easy for them, she says, because they are married, and they have found love. She doesn’t want to die without knowing what that feels like. Jess’s father despairs that he has raised two rebellious, broken children.

Elise finally returns, unharmed. And the family makes it to California. The Rapture doesn’t come. However, the family confronts the secrets lying between them, and they learn to love one another better. Jess decides that life is only what she makes of it and that it is okay to choose her own path. Jesus didn’t arrive to smite anyone, but he saved the family after all.



Miller writes novels and short stories for adults and teenagers. Her work has featured in prominent publications such as the Oxford American, American Book Review and McSweeney’s Quarterly.