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Young Freya is visiting her self-absorbed mother in Cornwall when she meets 14-year-old 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 entomb her breathing, blend of unease and frustration darting across their faces as they eventually free her from her improvised coffin.

This could have served as the disturbing main event of a novel, but it's merely a single of multiple terrible events in The Elements, which collects four short novels – published separately between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront previous suffering and try to find peace in the contemporary moment.

Controversial Context and Thematic 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 candidates dropped out in dissent at the author's debated views – and this year's prize has now been terminated.

Debate of gender identity issues is missing from The Elements, although the author explores plenty of major issues. Homophobia, the impact of mainstream and online outlets, parental neglect and assault are all explored.

Multiple Stories of Trauma

• In Water, a sorrowful woman named Willow relocates to a isolated Irish island after her husband is jailed for awful crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a soccer player on court case as an accessory to rape.
• In Fire, the mature Freya balances vengeance with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a dad flies to a memorial service with his young son, and ponders how much to reveal about his family's past.

Trauma is accumulated upon trauma as hurt survivors seem doomed to bump into each other continuously for eternity

Interconnected Narratives

Links multiply. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to flee the island of Water. His trial's panel contains the Freya who returns in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, works with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Supporting characters from one account return in cottages, pubs or judicial venues in another.

These plot threads may sound complex, but the author knows how to drive a narrative – his prior successful Holocaust drama has sold numerous units, and he has been converted into dozens languages. His businesslike prose shines with thriller-ish hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to toy with fire"; "the first thing I do when I come to the island is alter my name".

Character Portrayal and Narrative Strength

Characters are sketched in brief, powerful lines: the empathetic Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at conflict with her mother. Some scenes resonate with melancholy power or insightful humour: a boy is punched by his father after wetting himself at a football match; a prejudiced island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour exchange insults over cups of watery tea.

The author's talent of carrying you completely into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a real frisson, for the initial several times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is dulling, and at times almost comic: pain is layered with suffering, chance on coincidence in a dark farce in which hurt survivors seem doomed to bump into each other repeatedly for forever.

Thematic Complexity and Final Assessment

If this sounds less like life and more like limbo, that is element of the author's thesis. These wounded people are weighed down by the crimes they have experienced, stuck in routines of thought and behavior that stir and spiral and may in turn harm others. The author has spoken about the impact of his personal experiences of abuse and he depicts with understanding the way his ensemble traverse this risky landscape, extending for remedies – seclusion, frigid water immersion, reconciliation or bracing honesty – that might bring illumination.

The book's "elemental" framing isn't extremely instructive, while the quick pace means the discussion of social issues or social media is mainly shallow. But while The Elements is a imperfect work, it's also a entirely engaging, victim-focused chronicle: a appreciated riposte to the common fixation on investigators and offenders. The author shows how trauma can affect lives and generations, and how time and care can silence its reverberations.