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Twelve-year-old Freya stays with her distracted mother in Cornwall when she comes across 14-year-old twins. "The only thing better than knowing a secret," they tell her, "is having one of your own." In the time that ensue, they sexually assault her, then bury her alive, a mix of nervousness and irritation flitting across their faces as they eventually liberate her from her improvised coffin.

This might have stood as the shocking centrepiece of a novel, but it's just one of numerous terrible events in The Elements, which assembles four novellas – published distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront historical pain and try to find peace in the contemporary moment.

Controversial Context and Subject Exploration

The book's release has been marred by the presence of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the candidate list for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, most other contenders withdrew in protest at the author's gender-critical views – and this year's prize has now been terminated.

Discussion of trans rights is not present from The Elements, although the author touches on plenty of major issues. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the effect of mainstream and online outlets, family disregard and assault are all investigated.

Four Stories of Suffering

• In Water, a sorrowful woman named Willow transfers to a remote Irish island after her husband is jailed for awful crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a soccer player on legal proceedings as an accessory to rape.
• In Fire, the grown-up Freya balances vengeance with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a parent journeys to a burial with his teenage son, and considers how much to disclose about his family's history.

Pain is piled on suffering as wounded survivors seem doomed to encounter each other continuously for forever

Related Narratives

Connections abound. We initially encounter 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. Supporting characters from one story resurface in homes, bars or judicial venues in another.

These storylines may sound complex, but the author understands how to drive a narrative – his previous popular Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been converted into numerous languages. His straightforward prose bristles with gripping hooks: "ultimately, a doctor in the burns unit should understand more than to experiment with fire"; "the initial action I do when I reach the island is change my name".

Character Portrayal and Storytelling Strength

Characters are drawn in succinct, impactful lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at war with her mother. Some scenes resonate with sad power or perceptive humour: a boy is struck by his father after urinating at a football match; a narrow-minded island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour exchange barbs over cups of watery tea.

The author's ability of carrying you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a genuine frisson, for the opening times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is desensitizing, and at times practically comic: suffering is layered with trauma, chance on accident in a grim farce in which hurt survivors seem destined to encounter each other continuously for eternity.

Thematic Depth and Final Assessment

If this sounds different from life and closer to purgatory, that is aspect of the author's thesis. These hurt people are burdened by the crimes they have endured, stuck in cycles of thought and behavior that agitate and plunge and may in turn damage others. The author has discussed about the influence of his personal experiences of abuse and he portrays with sympathy the way his characters negotiate this risky landscape, extending for treatments – seclusion, cold ocean swims, reconciliation or bracing honesty – that might provide clarity.

The book's "elemental" concept isn't extremely instructive, while the quick pace means the exploration of gender dynamics or online networks is mostly shallow. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a completely accessible, survivor-centered epic: a valued rebuttal to the typical obsession on investigators and offenders. The author demonstrates how suffering can permeate lives and generations, and how duration and care can soften its aftereffects.