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Young Freya is visiting her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she encounters teenage twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they inform her, "is having one of your own." In the time that follow, they sexually assault her, then inter her while living, a mix of unease and annoyance darting across their faces as they finally liberate her from her improvised coffin.

This could have served as the shocking main event of a novel, but it's merely a single of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which assembles four novelettes – released distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate historical pain and try to achieve peace in the contemporary moment.

Disputed Context and Thematic Exploration

The book's release has been clouded by the addition of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the preliminary list for a significant LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other contenders dropped out in dissent at the author's debated views – and this year's prize has now been called off.

Debate of gender identity issues is not present from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of big issues. Anti-gay prejudice, the influence of conventional and digital platforms, family disregard and assault are all examined.

Four Stories of Trauma

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow moves to a secluded Irish island after her husband is incarcerated for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a footballer on legal proceedings as an accomplice to rape.
• In Fire, the grown-up Freya manages revenge with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a parent flies to a burial with his teenage son, and considers how much to divulge about his family's past.

Trauma is layered with trauma as wounded survivors seem destined to bump into each other continuously for eternity

Interconnected Accounts

Connections abound. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to leave the island of Water. His trial's group contains the Freya who reappears in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, partners with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Secondary characters from one account resurface in homes, pubs or legal settings in another.

These narrative elements may sound complex, but the author is skilled at how to propel a narrative – his earlier successful Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been converted into many languages. His direct prose bristles with thriller-ish hooks: "ultimately, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to experiment with fire"; "the first thing I do when I reach the island is modify my name".

Personality Development and Storytelling Strength

Characters are drawn in brief, impactful lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes ring with sad power or perceptive humour: a boy is struck by his father after urinating at a football match; a narrow-minded island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour exchange jabs over cups of weak tea.

The author's ability of bringing you fully into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an previous story a authentic thrill, for the first few times at least. Yet the aggregate effect of it all is numbing, and at times practically comic: suffering is layered with pain, accident on accident in a dark farce in which wounded survivors seem doomed to bump into each other repeatedly for eternity.

Thematic Depth and Final Evaluation

If this sounds different from life and closer to purgatory, that is element of the author's message. These wounded people are weighed down by the crimes they have endured, caught in cycles of thought and behavior that stir and plunge and may in turn hurt others. The author has spoken about the impact of his personal experiences of harm and he describes with understanding the way his cast traverse this risky landscape, reaching out for remedies – seclusion, icy sea dips, resolution or refreshing honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "elemental" framing isn't terribly educational, while the brisk pace means the examination of gender dynamics or online networks is primarily shallow. But while The Elements is a imperfect work, it's also a thoroughly engaging, victim-focused saga: a welcome response to the usual obsession on investigators and criminals. The author shows how trauma can affect lives and generations, and how time and compassion can silence its reverberations.