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Young Freya is visiting her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she comes across teenage twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they advise her, "is having one of your own." In the time that ensue, they sexually assault her, then bury her alive, blend of unease and irritation darting across their faces as they eventually release her from her temporary coffin.

This could have served as the shocking centrepiece of a novel, but it's only one of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which gathers four short novels – issued individually between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront previous suffering and try to discover peace in the current moment.

Disputed Context and Thematic Exploration

The book's issuance has been clouded by the inclusion of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the preliminary list for a significant LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other contenders withdrew in protest at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been called off.

Discussion of trans rights is not present from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of major issues. Homophobia, the effect of mainstream and online outlets, family disregard and abuse are all explored.

Multiple Narratives of Trauma

• In Water, a grieving woman named Willow relocates to a secluded Irish island after her husband is incarcerated for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a footballer on trial as an participant to rape.
• In Fire, the grown-up Freya juggles retaliation with her work as a medical professional.
• In Air, a parent journeys to a burial with his teenage son, and considers how much to disclose about his family's history.

Trauma is accumulated upon trauma as hurt survivors seem destined to meet each other again and again for eternity

Interconnected Narratives

Relationships proliferate. We originally see Evan as a boy trying to escape the island of Water. His trial's panel contains the Freya who returns in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, partners with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Minor characters from one narrative return in cottages, bars or courtrooms in another.

These plot threads may sound complex, but the author knows how to drive a narrative – his previous successful Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been translated into dozens languages. His businesslike prose shines with suspenseful hooks: "ultimately, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to experiment with fire"; "the initial action I do when I arrive on the island is modify my name".

Character Development and Narrative Power

Characters are portrayed in succinct, impactful lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes resonate with melancholy power or insightful humour: a boy is punched by his father after urinating at a football match; a biased island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap jabs over cups of watery tea.

The author's talent of carrying you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an prior story a genuine thrill, for the initial several times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is desensitizing, and at times almost comic: pain is accumulated upon pain, coincidence on chance in a grim farce in which hurt survivors seem doomed to bump into each other repeatedly for eternity.

Thematic Depth and Concluding Assessment

If this sounds different from life and more like uncertainty, that is aspect of the author's thesis. These damaged people are oppressed by the crimes they have suffered, caught in patterns of thought and behavior that stir and descend and may in turn hurt others. The author has discussed about the effect of his own experiences of abuse and he depicts with sympathy the way his characters traverse this risky landscape, extending for solutions – isolation, icy sea dips, resolution or invigorating honesty – that might provide clarity.

The book's "fundamental" structure isn't particularly instructive, while the quick pace means the examination of social issues or social media is primarily surface-level. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a completely engaging, trauma-oriented chronicle: a welcome rebuttal to the common preoccupation on investigators and criminals. The author demonstrates how pain can permeate lives and generations, and how time and compassion can soften its reverberations.