The Miler

**The Miler** takes you into the growing-up days of the 1950s and grippingly into the races of high-schooler Jeremiah James (JJ). Driven by dreams of a Cherokee mail-runner through eastern Kentucky mountains in the late 1800s, JJ with wit and simple eloquence recounts his young life with his little sister Sarah, who presents her views through diary excerpts. JJ falls in love with a prodigy the same age as Sarah and tries to cope with that age difference as well as the decline of his father. In JJ’s lowest moments, an unlikely and psychically gifted coach helps him to penetrate the mystery of his life and the grandeur of the power impelling him. Structured in 49 short, individually themed chapters, The Miler is a fast read and has a more literary style than most running books that focus more narrowly on training and race times. The depth is in the thin underlying metaphysical layer with many clues and parallels so subtle that readers enjoying and attuned to the surface plot and action won’t even notice them. You don’t need to be a runner to enjoy this book: you’ll be drawn into the races all the same.