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Twelve-year-old Freya spends time with her distracted mother in Cornwall when she encounters 14-year-old twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they tell her, "comes from possessing one of your own." In the weeks that come after, they sexually assault her, then bury her alive, blend of anxiety and frustration darting across their faces as they ultimately release her from her makeshift coffin.

This might have stood as the disturbing focal point of a novel, but it's only one of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which gathers four short novels – issued distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate previous suffering and try to discover peace in the contemporary moment.

Disputed Context and Subject Exploration

The book's issuance has been clouded by the presence of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the candidate list for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, nearly all other nominees pulled out in objection at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been terminated.

Discussion of trans rights is not present from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of significant issues. Homophobia, the influence of traditional and social media, family disregard and abuse are all examined.

Multiple Accounts of Suffering

• In Water, a grieving woman named Willow moves to a secluded Irish island after her husband is incarcerated for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a soccer player on legal proceedings as an accomplice to rape.
• In Fire, the grown-up Freya juggles vengeance with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a dad journeys to a burial with his young son, and considers how much to disclose about his family's history.

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

Linked Narratives

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

These plot threads may sound complicated, but the author is skilled at how to propel a narrative – his prior successful Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been converted into many languages. His straightforward prose sparkles with thriller-ish hooks: "in the end, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to toy with fire"; "the primary step I do when I arrive on the island is modify my name".

Character Portrayal and Narrative Strength

Characters are sketched in succinct, powerful lines: the empathetic Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at war with her mother. Some scenes resonate with sad power or insightful humour: a boy is hit by his father after having an accident at a football match; a biased island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour exchange barbs over cups of watery tea.

The author's ability of bringing you fully into each narrative gives the return of a character or plot strand from an prior story a authentic excitement, for the opening times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is numbing, and at times nearly comic: suffering is layered with suffering, coincidence on coincidence in a grim farce in which wounded survivors seem doomed to bump into each other repeatedly for forever.

Thematic Complexity and Concluding Evaluation

If this sounds different from life and more like uncertainty, that is aspect of the author's message. These wounded people are oppressed by the crimes they have endured, caught in patterns of thought and behavior that stir and plunge and may in turn hurt others. The author has discussed about the influence of his individual experiences of abuse and he describes with sympathy the way his cast traverse this dangerous landscape, extending for treatments – seclusion, icy sea dips, resolution or refreshing honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "basic" concept isn't terribly instructive, while the rapid pace means the discussion of sexual politics or digital platforms is mainly shallow. But while The Elements is a defective work, it's also a entirely accessible, victim-focused saga: a welcome rebuttal to the usual obsession on investigators and perpetrators. The author shows how pain can affect lives and generations, and how time and compassion can quieten its aftereffects.