Evil and great writers

I was reflecting on the evils in the life of someone I care much about, and wondering about the problem of evil. And then I realized that if these evils happened to someone in a novel by a great author, I would have very good reason to be confident that the author could fit them into his purposes in a surprising way, e.g., bringing off a glorious finale (it's not surprising that he can fit them, but surprising that he would fit them in this way). I found this comforting.