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Young 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 inform her, "is having one of your own." In the time that ensue, they sexually assault her, then entomb her breathing, combination of nervousness and irritation flitting across their faces as they finally liberate her from her improvised coffin.

This may have functioned as the disturbing focal point of a novel, but it's merely a single of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which collects four novelettes – published distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate historical pain and try to discover peace in the present moment.

Controversial Context and Subject Exploration

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

Debate of LGBTQ+ matters is missing from The Elements, although the author touches on plenty of significant issues. Anti-gay prejudice, the impact of traditional and social media, parental neglect and abuse are all investigated.

Multiple Accounts of Pain

• In Water, a sorrowful woman named Willow transfers to a isolated Irish island after her husband is imprisoned for awful crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a soccer player on trial as an accessory to rape.
• In Fire, the adult Freya juggles revenge with her work as a surgeon.
• In Air, a dad travels to a funeral with his young son, and wonders how much to disclose about his family's past.

Suffering is layered with suffering as hurt survivors seem doomed to bump into each other continuously for eternity

Linked Accounts

Connections multiply. We originally see Evan as a boy trying to flee the island of Water. His trial's jury contains the Freya who reappears in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, works with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Secondary characters from one account return in homes, bars or judicial venues in another.

These plot threads may sound complicated, but the author understands how to drive a narrative – his previous acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been translated into many languages. His businesslike prose bristles with thriller-ish hooks: "ultimately, a doctor in the burns unit should be wiser than to play with fire"; "the initial action I do when I arrive on the island is modify my name".

Character Portrayal and Narrative Strength

Characters are portrayed in succinct, powerful lines: the compassionate Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at conflict with her mother. Some scenes echo with sad power or observational humour: a boy is struck by his father after urinating at a football match; a biased island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour trade insults 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 prior story a authentic thrill, for the initial several times at least. Yet the aggregate effect of it all is dulling, and at times almost comic: pain is accumulated upon suffering, chance on accident in a grim farce in which wounded survivors seem destined to bump into each other again and again for all time.

Thematic Complexity and Concluding Evaluation

If this sounds not exactly life and more like uncertainty, that is element of the author's point. These damaged people are oppressed by the crimes they have suffered, caught in cycles of thought and behavior that churn and descend and may in turn harm others. The author has talked about the impact of his own experiences of harm and he describes with sympathy the way his ensemble navigate this dangerous landscape, extending for treatments – seclusion, frigid water immersion, reconciliation or refreshing honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "elemental" concept isn't extremely instructive, while the rapid pace means the discussion of sexual politics or social media is primarily shallow. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a thoroughly engaging, trauma-oriented epic: a valued response to the usual fixation on investigators and offenders. The author demonstrates how suffering can permeate lives and generations, and how duration and tenderness can quieten its echoes.