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Twelve-year-old Freya is visiting her distracted mother in Cornwall when she encounters teenage twins. "The only thing better than knowing a secret," they advise her, "is having one of your own." In the days that follow, they violate her, then entomb her breathing, a mix of anxiety and annoyance flitting across their faces as they ultimately release her from her temporary coffin.

This could have served as the disturbing main event of a novel, but it's just one of many terrible events in The Elements, which assembles four novellas – published distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront previous suffering and try to discover peace in the present moment.

Controversial Context and Subject Exploration

The book's release has been marred by the presence of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the candidate list for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other nominees withdrew in protest at the author's gender-critical views – and this year's prize has now been called off.

Debate of gender identity issues is absent from The Elements, although the author explores plenty of big issues. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the influence of conventional and digital platforms, parental neglect and abuse are all examined.

Distinct Stories of Pain

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow transfers to a isolated Irish island after her husband is incarcerated for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a soccer player on trial as an participant to rape.
• In Fire, the adult Freya manages vengeance with her work as a surgeon.
• In Air, a dad flies to a funeral with his teenage son, and wonders how much to reveal about his family's history.

Pain is layered with pain as hurt survivors seem destined to bump into each other again and again for forever

Related Narratives

Links multiply. 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, works with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Minor characters from one story return in houses, bars or legal settings in another.

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

Personality Portrayal and Narrative Strength

Characters are sketched in succinct, impactful lines: the compassionate Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at conflict with her mother. Some scenes ring with tragic power or perceptive humour: a boy is struck by his father after urinating at a football match; a biased island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap insults over cups of diluted tea.

The author's ability of bringing you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a real thrill, for the first few times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is numbing, and at times practically comic: trauma is layered with trauma, chance on coincidence in a dark farce in which damaged survivors seem fated to meet each other continuously for eternity.

Thematic Depth and Concluding Evaluation

If this sounds less like life and resembling purgatory, that is element of the author's point. These wounded people are weighed down by the crimes they have experienced, trapped in patterns of thought and behavior that churn and spiral and may in turn damage others. The author has talked about the impact of his personal experiences of abuse and he describes with sympathy the way his ensemble navigate this risky landscape, reaching out for remedies – solitude, cold ocean swims, forgiveness or invigorating honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "elemental" concept isn't extremely instructive, while the quick pace means the discussion of sexual politics or online networks is primarily shallow. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a completely engaging, survivor-centered chronicle: a valued riposte to the usual fixation on authorities and criminals. The author shows how suffering can permeate lives and generations, and how duration and care can silence its echoes.