A ROUGH SHAKING

The 19th-century Scottish author delivers a novel of a homeless orphan who finds peace in the company of animals and his own innate goodness. One of George MacDonald?s realistic novels, A Rough Shaking takes its title from a devastating earthquake that hit along the Italian coast in February of 1887. Though not written in the classic mold of a children?s story, like MacDonald?s Ranald Bannerman?s Boyhood and Gutta Percha Willie, it tells the story of Clare Skymer?s growing up. Orphaned by an earthquake and though seemingly unaware of God, he is a child imbued with goodness and with an unusual empathy for animals. As he wanders the world and is faced with decisions that test his selflessness and compassion, he matures into a man of character and grace. As MacDonald writes, ?His soul was in a better home than a sky full of angels, a home better than the dome itself of all the angels, for his home was his father?s heart.?