Young Freya stays with her distracted mother in Cornwall when she comes across teenage twins. "The only thing better than knowing a secret," they advise her, "is having one of your own." In the time that come after, they will rape her, then entomb her breathing, combination of anxiety and frustration passing across their faces as they finally liberate her from her temporary coffin.
This might have stood as the disturbing main event of a novel, but it's just one of many horrific events in The Elements, which collects four novellas – released distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate historical pain and try to discover peace in the contemporary moment.
Debated Context and Thematic Exploration
The book's issuance has been clouded by the addition of Earth, the second novella, on the candidate list for a significant LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other nominees dropped out in protest at the author's debated views – and this year's prize has now been cancelled.
Debate of LGBTQ+ matters is missing from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of big issues. Anti-gay prejudice, the impact of traditional and social media, family disregard and abuse are all explored.
Four Narratives of Suffering
- In Water, a mourning woman named Willow transfers to a isolated Irish island after her husband is jailed for terrible crimes.
- In Earth, Evan is a athlete on trial as an accomplice to rape.
- In Fire, the adult Freya juggles vengeance with her work as a doctor.
- In Air, a father journeys to a funeral with his young son, and wonders how much to reveal about his family's past.
Trauma is piled on trauma as hurt survivors seem destined to meet each other continuously for forever
Interconnected Narratives
Connections abound. 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, works with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Supporting characters from one narrative reappear in houses, pubs or courtrooms in another.
These storylines may sound complicated, but the author knows how to propel a narrative – his prior popular Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been converted into numerous languages. His direct prose shines with suspenseful hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should be wiser than to experiment with fire"; "the first thing I do when I reach the island is change my name".
Personality Portrayal and Storytelling Power
Characters are portrayed in concise, impactful lines: the compassionate Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at war with her mother. Some scenes resonate with sad power or observational humour: a boy is hit by his father after having an accident at a football match; a narrow-minded island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap barbs over cups of diluted tea.
The author's knack of transporting you completely into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an previous story a real excitement, for the opening times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is dulling, and at times nearly comic: trauma is layered with pain, coincidence on coincidence in a bleak farce in which damaged survivors seem doomed to meet each other again and again for eternity.
Conceptual Complexity and Final Evaluation
If this sounds different from life and closer to uncertainty, that is aspect of the author's thesis. These wounded people are burdened by the crimes they have experienced, trapped in routines of thought and behavior that churn and spiral and may in turn harm others. The author has discussed about the effect of his own experiences of abuse and he depicts with understanding the way his cast traverse this dangerous landscape, extending for remedies – seclusion, icy sea dips, forgiveness or bracing honesty – that might let light in.
The book's "basic" framing isn't terribly informative, while the quick pace means the examination of gender dynamics or online networks is mainly shallow. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a completely readable, trauma-oriented epic: a appreciated response to the usual preoccupation on detectives and criminals. The author shows how suffering can run through lives and generations, and how time and tenderness can soften its echoes.
