The Glad River

Will D. Campbell. Macon, Ga.: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 1982. 1-800-747-3016. 360 pp. (Paperback).

A reissue of Will D. Campbell’s first novel, this work bears a biblical name and tells the most basic of all biblical stories — the journey of human beings exiled from all that is familiar who find their way home.

Here parallel stories of three soldiers in World War II and that of three Anabaptists who face persecution together in the 16th century become streams that flow together, forming the grand river, which according to the old hymn, “flows by the throne of God.”

This treasure is a portrait of a continuing theme in his work: community and its mystery, loss of steadfast memory and corruption. Campbell is a radio preacher and scholar who lives in the Nashville area.