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Twelve-year-old Freya stays with her distracted mother in Cornwall when she encounters 14-year-old twins. "The only thing better than being aware of a secret," they inform her, "is having one of your own." In the time that follow, they violate her, then bury her alive, combination of nervousness and irritation flitting across their faces as they ultimately release her from her improvised coffin.

This may have functioned as the shocking focal point of a novel, but it's merely a single of many awful events in The Elements, which gathers four short novels – issued individually between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate previous suffering and try to discover peace in the current moment.

Debated Context and Subject Exploration

The book's issuance has been overshadowed by the inclusion of Earth, the second novella, on the longlist for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other nominees withdrew in protest at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been terminated.

Conversation of gender identity issues is absent from The Elements, although the author touches on plenty of big issues. Homophobia, the impact of mainstream and online outlets, family disregard and sexual violence are all explored.

Multiple Stories of Trauma

• In Water, a grieving woman named Willow transfers to a isolated Irish island after her husband is jailed for awful crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a footballer on legal proceedings as an participant to rape.
• In Fire, the mature Freya balances retaliation with her work as a medical professional.
• In Air, a parent travels to a funeral with his adolescent son, and ponders how much to disclose about his family's background.

Pain is layered with trauma as hurt survivors seem destined to encounter each other again and again for forever

Interconnected Narratives

Links multiply. We originally see Evan as a boy trying to escape the island of Water. His trial's jury contains the Freya who reappears in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, collaborates with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Minor characters from one account reappear in houses, bars or judicial venues in another.

These narrative elements may sound complicated, but the author understands how to propel a narrative – his earlier acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been converted into dozens languages. His businesslike prose shines with gripping hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should understand more than to toy with fire"; "the primary step I do when I reach the island is change my name".

Character Portrayal and Narrative Power

Characters are drawn in concise, impactful lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at conflict with her mother. Some scenes echo with tragic power or observational humour: a boy is struck by his father after wetting himself at a football match; a biased island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour trade jabs over cups of diluted tea.

The author's knack of bringing you fully into each narrative gives the return of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a genuine thrill, for the initial several times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is dulling, and at times practically comic: suffering is piled on trauma, accident on chance in a dark farce in which damaged survivors seem destined to meet each other again and again for all time.

Conceptual Complexity and Final Assessment

If this sounds less like life and more like purgatory, that is aspect of the author's point. These damaged people are burdened by the crimes they have endured, trapped in patterns of thought and behavior that churn and descend and may in turn hurt others. The author has discussed about the effect of his own experiences of harm and he depicts with sympathy the way his cast navigate this perilous landscape, striving for treatments – isolation, icy sea dips, forgiveness or bracing honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "elemental" framing isn't extremely instructive, while the quick pace means the exploration of social issues or social media is primarily superficial. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a completely accessible, survivor-centered chronicle: a valued response to the common obsession on detectives and offenders. The author illustrates how suffering can affect lives and generations, and how duration and tenderness can quieten its reverberations.