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Young Freya stays with her self-absorbed mother in Cornwall when she comes across teenage twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they tell her, "comes from possessing one of your own." In the days that follow, they violate her, then bury her alive, a mix of nervousness and annoyance darting across their faces as they eventually free her from her temporary coffin.

This might have stood as the shocking focal point of a novel, but it's only one of numerous terrible events in The Elements, which collects four novellas – published separately between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate historical pain and try to find peace in the contemporary moment.

Controversial Context and Thematic Exploration

The book's issuance has been overshadowed by the presence of Earth, the second novella, on the candidate list for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, most other contenders dropped out in protest at the author's debated views – and this year's prize has now been cancelled.

Conversation of gender identity issues is not present from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of major issues. Homophobia, the impact of conventional and digital platforms, family disregard and sexual violence are all explored.

Distinct Narratives of Suffering

• In Water, a sorrowful woman named Willow relocates to a secluded Irish island after her husband is imprisoned for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a footballer on trial as an participant to rape.
• In Fire, the grown-up Freya balances retaliation with her work as a medical professional.
• In Air, a parent flies to a memorial service with his teenage son, and considers how much to divulge about his family's history.

Trauma is accumulated upon trauma as wounded survivors seem fated to bump into each other again and again for forever

Related Narratives

Connections abound. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to escape the island of Water. His trial's panel 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 narrative resurface in homes, bars or courtrooms in another.

These storylines may sound complicated, but the author is skilled at how to propel a narrative – his prior popular Holocaust drama has sold numerous units, and he has been converted into dozens languages. His direct prose bristles with thriller-ish hooks: "in the end, a doctor in the burns unit should understand more than to toy with fire"; "the primary step I do when I come to the island is change my name".

Personality Development and Storytelling Strength

Characters are portrayed in concise, effective lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at war with her mother. Some scenes echo with melancholy power or observational humour: a boy is punched by his father after having an accident at a football match; a narrow-minded island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour exchange barbs over cups of diluted tea.

The author's ability of carrying you fully into each narrative gives the return of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a genuine excitement, for the first few times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is desensitizing, and at times nearly comic: trauma is layered with trauma, accident on accident in a bleak farce in which hurt survivors seem fated to meet each other again and again for eternity.

Thematic Depth and Final Assessment

If this sounds less like life and closer to limbo, that is element of the author's point. These hurt people are oppressed by the crimes they have endured, trapped in cycles of thought and behavior that churn and spiral and may in turn damage others. The author has spoken about the effect of his individual experiences of harm and he portrays with sympathy the way his cast navigate this dangerous landscape, reaching out for treatments – seclusion, icy sea dips, reconciliation or bracing honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "fundamental" concept isn't terribly informative, while the quick pace means the discussion of gender dynamics or digital platforms is mainly shallow. But while The Elements is a defective work, it's also a completely accessible, trauma-oriented saga: a appreciated rebuttal to the common obsession on investigators and perpetrators. The author shows how trauma can affect lives and generations, and how time and compassion can silence its echoes.