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Twelve-year-old Freya spends time with her distracted mother in Cornwall when she meets 14-year-old twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they inform her, "comes from possessing one of your own." In the time that follow, they will rape her, then bury her alive, a mix of nervousness and frustration darting across their faces as they ultimately free her from her temporary coffin.

This might have stood as the disturbing main event of a novel, but it's just one of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which gathers four short novels – published separately between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront past trauma and try to achieve peace in the contemporary moment.

Controversial Context and Subject Exploration

The book's release has been marred by the presence of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the preliminary list for a prominent LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, nearly all other nominees dropped out in protest at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been called off.

Conversation of gender identity issues is not present from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of major issues. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the impact of traditional and social media, caregiver abandonment and sexual violence are all explored.

Multiple Narratives of Pain

• In Water, a grieving woman named Willow transfers to a remote Irish island after her husband is imprisoned for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a athlete on legal proceedings as an accomplice to rape.
• In Fire, the adult Freya juggles revenge with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a dad journeys to a memorial service with his teenage son, and ponders how much to disclose about his family's past.

Suffering is layered with pain as wounded survivors seem fated to bump into each other again and again for eternity

Interconnected Stories

Links abound. We originally see 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, collaborates with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Supporting characters from one account return in homes, pubs or legal settings in another.

These plot threads may sound complicated, but the author understands how to power a narrative – his previous acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been translated into dozens languages. His businesslike prose sparkles with suspenseful hooks: "ultimately, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to experiment with fire"; "the initial action I do when I arrive on the island is change my name".

Personality Portrayal and Storytelling Power

Characters are sketched in brief, powerful lines: the empathetic Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at war with her mother. Some scenes echo with sad power or insightful humour: a boy is struck by his father after urinating at a football match; a narrow-minded island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour trade insults over cups of watery tea.

The author's ability of bringing you completely into each narrative gives the comeback of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a genuine thrill, for the first few times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is desensitizing, and at times nearly comic: suffering is accumulated upon trauma, accident on accident in a bleak farce in which hurt survivors seem fated to bump into each other repeatedly for forever.

Thematic Complexity and Concluding Evaluation

If this sounds not exactly life and resembling uncertainty, that is element of the author's point. These hurt people are burdened by the crimes they have experienced, stuck in patterns of thought and behavior that churn and descend and may in turn damage others. The author has discussed about the impact of his individual experiences of mistreatment and he portrays with understanding the way his cast navigate this risky landscape, reaching out for treatments – seclusion, icy sea dips, forgiveness or bracing honesty – that might provide clarity.

The book's "elemental" framing isn't extremely informative, while the brisk pace means the exploration of gender dynamics or online networks is primarily surface-level. But while The Elements is a defective work, it's also a completely engaging, victim-focused saga: a welcome response to the common preoccupation on authorities and criminals. The author demonstrates how trauma can run through lives and generations, and how years and compassion can quieten its echoes.