A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection Longlisted for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Book Prize “[A] terrific first novel. . . . Why worry about labeling a book this good? Just read it.” —Laurie Muchnick, New York Times Book Review Jess is fifteen years old and waiting for the world to end. Her evangelical father has packed up the family to drive west to California, hoping to save as many souls as possible before the Second Coming. With her long-suffering mother and rebellious (and secretly pregnant) sister, Jess hands out tracts to nonbelievers at every rest stop, Waffle House, and gas station along the way. As Jess’s belief frays, her teenage myopia evolves into awareness about her fracturing family. Selected as a Barnes & Noble Discover pick and an Indie Next pick, Mary Miller’s radiant debut novel reinvigorates the literary road-trip story with wry vulnerability and savage charm.

When gold was discovered in California in 1848, the news caused the greatest mass migration in the history of the Republic. This comprehensive history demonstrates how the Gold Rush touched the lives of families & communities everywhere in the U.S.

B.M. Bower's compelling historical story "The Gringos: A Story of the Old California Days in 1849" is a must-read. This compelling story, which is set against the background of the California Gold Rush, transports readers on a thrilling journey through the untamable wilderness of 1849 California. The chaotic and thrilling atmosphere of the Gold Rush period, replete with rough terrain, greedy prospectors, and contacts with Native American tribes, is vividly brought to life by B.M. Bower's narration. Readers see the clash of cultures, the quest of fortune, and the ties of friendship forged in the face of hardship through the eyes of the gringos. The historical fiction novel "The Gringos" weaves a colorful tapestry of action, romance, and the unbreakable character of the human spirit. The Old California Days in 1849 are eloquently depicted in Bower's superb story, which also paints a realistic image of a period and location that permanently altered the American West's terrain

James Steele visited California in the 1880s. Old Californian days (1889) is the book Steele based on that trip. He provides a sketch of the history of California before the Gold Rush and surviving remnants of that history: the mission churches (San Gabriel and San Juan Capistrano), Spanish-American culture in modern California, and Native American tribes.