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Twelve-year-old Freya spends time with her self-absorbed mother in Cornwall when she comes across teenage twins. "The only thing better than being aware of a secret," they tell her, "is having one of your own." In the days that ensue, they will rape her, then entomb her breathing, a mix of unease and irritation passing across their faces as they ultimately liberate her from her temporary coffin.

This may have functioned as the jarring main event of a novel, but it's only one of multiple terrible events in The Elements, which collects four short novels – issued separately between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters negotiate historical pain and try to achieve peace in the present moment.

Debated Context and Subject Exploration

The book's publication has been overshadowed by the inclusion of Earth, the second novella, on the longlist for a prominent LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other contenders pulled out in objection at the author's controversial 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 significant issues. Anti-gay prejudice, the influence of traditional and social media, family disregard and assault are all examined.

Distinct Stories of Trauma

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow moves to a isolated Irish island after her husband is jailed for terrible crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a footballer on court case as an participant to rape.
• In Fire, the mature Freya manages revenge with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a father flies to a burial with his teenage son, and ponders how much to disclose about his family's history.

Trauma is accumulated upon suffering as wounded survivors seem destined to encounter each other continuously for all time

Related Stories

Connections proliferate. We originally see Evan as a boy trying to leave the island of Water. His trial's group 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. Secondary characters from one narrative return in cottages, bars or legal settings in another.

These plot threads may sound complex, but the author knows how to power a narrative – his previous acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been converted into many languages. His straightforward prose shines with thriller-ish hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should understand more than to experiment with fire"; "the first thing I do when I come to the island is change my name".

Character Development and Narrative Power

Characters are drawn in brief, effective lines: the empathetic Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at conflict with her mother. Some scenes ring with sad power or perceptive 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 jabs over cups of weak tea.

The author's ability of transporting you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the return of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a authentic excitement, for the opening times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is dulling, and at times practically comic: pain is accumulated upon suffering, accident on accident in a grim farce in which hurt survivors seem fated to encounter each other continuously for all time.

Thematic Complexity and Concluding Evaluation

If this sounds not exactly life and closer to purgatory, that is part of the author's message. These hurt people are weighed down by the crimes they have endured, caught in cycles of thought and behavior that agitate and descend and may in turn hurt others. The author has discussed about the impact of his personal experiences of abuse and he portrays with sympathy the way his ensemble traverse this dangerous landscape, striving for solutions – isolation, cold ocean swims, resolution or refreshing honesty – that might provide clarity.

The book's "elemental" concept isn't terribly instructive, while the brisk pace means the examination of social issues or online networks is mostly surface-level. But while The Elements is a defective work, it's also a entirely accessible, trauma-oriented epic: a appreciated rebuttal to the typical preoccupation on detectives and offenders. The author shows how pain can permeate lives and generations, and how time and compassion can soften its aftereffects.