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Twelve-year-old Freya is visiting her self-absorbed mother in Cornwall when she encounters 14-year-old twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they advise her, "is having one of your own." In the time that follow, they will rape her, then entomb her breathing, a mix of nervousness and irritation passing across their faces as they eventually liberate her from her improvised coffin.

This might have stood as the jarring focal point of a novel, but it's only one of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which gathers four novellas – released distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront past trauma and try to achieve peace in the current moment.

Disputed Context and Subject Exploration

The book's issuance has been overshadowed by the addition of Earth, the second novella, on the preliminary list for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other contenders dropped out in protest at the author's debated views – and this year's prize has now been cancelled.

Discussion of gender identity issues is not present from The Elements, although the author touches on plenty of major issues. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the influence of traditional and social media, caregiver abandonment and assault are all investigated.

Four Stories of Trauma

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow moves to a secluded Irish island after her husband is incarcerated for awful crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a footballer on legal proceedings as an accomplice to rape.
• In Fire, the adult Freya manages retaliation with her work as a medical professional.
• In Air, a parent journeys to a memorial service with his young son, and considers how much to divulge about his family's history.

Trauma is accumulated upon suffering as damaged survivors seem fated to encounter each other again and again for all time

Linked Stories

Connections proliferate. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to leave 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. Minor characters from one account return in houses, pubs or courtrooms in another.

These narrative elements may sound complex, but the author understands how to power a narrative – his prior acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been converted into many languages. His businesslike prose shines with gripping hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should understand more than to experiment with fire"; "the primary step I do when I come to the island is alter my name".

Character Development and Storytelling Strength

Characters are portrayed in concise, effective lines: the empathetic Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at war with her mother. Some scenes resonate with melancholy power or observational humour: a boy is punched by his father after urinating at a football match; a prejudiced island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap insults over cups of diluted tea.

The author's knack of carrying you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an prior story a real thrill, for the opening times at least. Yet the aggregate effect of it all is numbing, and at times practically comic: pain is piled on suffering, accident on accident in a bleak farce in which damaged survivors seem fated to meet each other continuously for forever.

Thematic Complexity and Concluding Evaluation

If this sounds not exactly life and more like uncertainty, that is part of the author's message. These damaged people are weighed down by the crimes they have endured, stuck in patterns of thought and behavior that stir and spiral and may in turn hurt others. The author has talked about the influence of his individual experiences of mistreatment and he portrays with compassion the way his ensemble navigate this dangerous landscape, reaching out for treatments – seclusion, frigid water immersion, forgiveness or refreshing honesty – that might bring illumination.

The book's "elemental" structure isn't extremely educational, while the rapid pace means the exploration of sexual politics or digital platforms is mainly shallow. But while The Elements is a imperfect work, it's also a entirely accessible, trauma-oriented saga: a valued riposte to the common fixation on authorities and offenders. The author illustrates how trauma can permeate lives and generations, and how years and compassion can quieten its aftereffects.