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Young Freya is visiting her self-absorbed mother in Cornwall when she meets 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 entomb her breathing, blend of unease and frustration passing across their faces as they ultimately free her from her makeshift coffin.

This could have served as the jarring centrepiece of a novel, but it's only one of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which collects four novellas – released distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters negotiate previous suffering and try to find peace in the current moment.

Controversial Context and Subject Exploration

The book's issuance has been clouded by the addition of Earth, the second novella, on the preliminary list for a prominent LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, most other contenders dropped out in objection at the author's gender-critical 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. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the effect of traditional and social media, family disregard and sexual violence are all explored.

Four Stories of Suffering

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow moves to a secluded Irish island after her husband is jailed for terrible crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a athlete on trial as an accomplice to rape.
• In Fire, the mature Freya balances retaliation with her work as a surgeon.
• In Air, a dad flies to a memorial service with his teenage son, and ponders how much to divulge about his family's history.

Pain is piled on pain as damaged survivors seem fated to meet each other continuously for all time

Related Accounts

Relationships multiply. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to leave the island of Water. His trial's jury contains the Freya who shows up again in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, partners with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Supporting characters from one story reappear in homes, taverns or courtrooms in another.

These plot threads may sound complicated, but the author knows how to power a narrative – his prior acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been converted into many languages. His businesslike prose sparkles with suspenseful hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should be wiser than to toy with fire"; "the primary step I do when I come to the island is modify my name".

Personality Portrayal and Narrative Power

Characters are drawn in brief, effective lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes echo with sad power or insightful humour: a boy is hit 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 knack of carrying you fully into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an prior story a real frisson, for the initial several times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is dulling, and at times practically comic: trauma is piled on suffering, chance on accident in a dark farce in which wounded survivors seem destined to meet each other continuously for all time.

Thematic Complexity and Final Assessment

If this sounds different from life and more like limbo, that is part of the author's thesis. These damaged people are weighed down by the crimes they have endured, caught in routines of thought and behavior that agitate and spiral and may in turn hurt others. The author has discussed about the effect of his own experiences of abuse and he portrays with sympathy the way his characters traverse this perilous landscape, striving for treatments – solitude, cold ocean swims, resolution or invigorating honesty – that might provide clarity.

The book's "elemental" concept isn't extremely instructive, while the brisk pace means the exploration of sexual politics or online networks is primarily surface-level. But while The Elements is a imperfect work, it's also a thoroughly engaging, victim-focused chronicle: a valued riposte to the typical obsession on authorities and criminals. The author demonstrates how trauma can affect lives and generations, and how years and compassion can quieten its echoes.