🔗 Share this article

Young Freya spends time with her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she comes across 14-year-old twins. "The only thing better than knowing a secret," they advise her, "is having one of your own." In the weeks that ensue, they violate her, then inter her while living, a mix of unease and irritation darting across their faces as they finally free her from her makeshift coffin.

This could have served as the jarring centrepiece of a novel, but it's only one of multiple horrific events in The Elements, which assembles four short novels – released distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront previous suffering and try to find peace in the present moment.

Controversial 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 nominees pulled out in dissent at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been called off.

Discussion of LGBTQ+ matters is not present from The Elements, although the author touches on plenty of big issues. Anti-gay prejudice, the influence of traditional and social media, caregiver abandonment and sexual violence are all explored.

Distinct Narratives of Suffering

• In Water, a sorrowful woman named Willow transfers to a secluded Irish island after her husband is incarcerated for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a athlete on trial as an participant to rape.
• In Fire, the adult Freya balances revenge with her work as a surgeon.
• In Air, a dad flies to a funeral with his teenage son, and considers how much to disclose about his family's history.

Pain is accumulated upon trauma as hurt survivors seem destined to bump into each other again and again for all time

Linked Narratives

Connections multiply. We originally see Evan as a boy trying to escape the island of Water. His trial's jury contains the Freya who shows up again in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, collaborates with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Supporting characters from one narrative reappear in cottages, taverns or courtrooms in another.

These narrative elements may sound complicated, but the author knows how to propel a narrative – his previous successful Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been translated into dozens languages. His straightforward prose bristles with suspenseful hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should be wiser than to toy with fire"; "the initial action I do when I arrive on the island is modify my name".

Personality Portrayal and Narrative Power

Characters are sketched in succinct, effective lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes echo with tragic power or observational humour: a boy is punched by his father after having an accident at a football match; a biased island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap jabs over cups of weak tea.

The author's ability of transporting you fully into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an previous story a genuine excitement, for the opening times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is dulling, and at times nearly comic: pain is layered with trauma, coincidence on chance in a dark farce in which damaged survivors seem doomed to bump into each other continuously for forever.

Thematic Depth and Final Assessment

If this sounds not exactly life and more like uncertainty, that is part of the author's message. These wounded people are oppressed by the crimes they have suffered, trapped in routines of thought and behavior that agitate and descend and may in turn damage others. The author has spoken about the impact of his individual experiences of harm and he depicts with compassion the way his characters traverse this dangerous landscape, reaching out for solutions – solitude, icy sea dips, reconciliation or refreshing honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "basic" framing isn't particularly educational, while the brisk pace means the examination of gender dynamics or online networks is mostly superficial. But while The Elements is a imperfect work, it's also a thoroughly accessible, trauma-oriented epic: a appreciated rebuttal to the typical obsession on authorities and criminals. The author demonstrates how trauma can run through lives and generations, and how years and compassion can quieten its aftereffects.