Under running laughter - Liz Anderson

Under Running Laughter is a fictionalised biography of Charles Garrad. The son of a Suffolk farmer, he translated the entire Bible direct from ancient Hebrew and Greek into modern Burmese and it is to honour his selfless life and remarkable achievement that his daughter has written this book.Set between 1885 and 1989, it tells the story of Charles and of Marjory, the unexpected love of his life. We follow their separate fortunes from early childhoods blighted by parental loss, through their shipboard romance and on to their life of self-imposed exile in Burma.Charlie seemed destined to a life of scholarship at Cambridge University. But events, and conscience, pushed him reluctantly into service as a missionary in Burma. Contrasts bewildered him; troubles beset him. Illness, mosquitoes, deafness and homesickness almost defeated him. But he was entranced by the strange beauty of Burma, of its paddy-fields and haunting jungle. The simple unspoilt people touched a deep chord in his countryman’s soul, and he found a new perspective to his own convictions.Then came the startling request. Would he translate the Bible into Burmese? The challenge was irresistible, the task formidable. Though completed at his death, disappointment threatened, and it is only now with a new edition pending that Charlie’s Bible will truly come into its own.