When Allen Levi’s brother, Gary, was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, neither realized they were about to embark on the best year of their lives. More than mere brothers, Allen and Gary were best friends, life-long bachelors, one a lawyer turned singer-songwriter, the other a globe-trotting missions worker. Their relationship was one of rare and powerful beauty, and in this rich memoir, Levi captures the small yet telling details of a life lived to the fullest-right up to the finish line.

Like Sheldon Vanauken’s A Severe Mercy, Levi’s The Last Sweet Mile gives us a tale of both great loss and enduring faith, demonstrating that love is a refining fire, brotherhood a holy gift, and death itself a doorway to a wedding feast. The Last Sweet Mile is not only a testament to the life of Gary Levi, it is a testament to the hope that shaped and sustained him.