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Young Freya is visiting her distracted mother in Cornwall when she meets teenage twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they inform her, "comes from possessing one of your own." In the days that follow, they violate her, then entomb her breathing, a mix of anxiety and frustration passing across their faces as they finally release her from her makeshift coffin.

This could have served as the jarring main event of a novel, but it's only one of multiple horrific events in The Elements, which assembles four short novels – published individually between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate past trauma and try to discover peace in the present moment.

Disputed Context and Subject Exploration

The book's publication has been marred by the inclusion of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the longlist for a significant LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, most other nominees pulled out in objection at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been terminated.

Debate of trans rights is missing from The Elements, although the author explores plenty of big issues. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the impact of mainstream and online outlets, family disregard and sexual violence are all explored.

Multiple Stories of Trauma

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow transfers to a secluded Irish island after her husband is imprisoned for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a footballer on legal proceedings as an accomplice to rape.
• In Fire, the mature Freya manages retaliation with her work as a medical professional.
• In Air, a parent travels to a burial with his adolescent son, and considers how much to divulge about his family's history.

Pain is accumulated upon trauma as wounded survivors seem destined to bump into each other continuously for all time

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Relationships multiply. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to flee 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 houses, bars or courtrooms in another.

These narrative elements may sound complex, but the author knows how to drive a narrative – his previous acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been converted into dozens languages. His businesslike prose sparkles with thriller-ish hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should understand more than to experiment with fire"; "the primary step I do when I reach the island is alter my name".

Character Portrayal and Storytelling Power

Characters are drawn in concise, powerful lines: the compassionate Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes ring with melancholy power or observational humour: a boy is punched by his father after wetting himself at a football match; a prejudiced island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour trade barbs over cups of weak tea.

The author's talent of carrying you fully into each narrative gives the return of a character or plot strand from an previous story a genuine thrill, for the initial several times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is desensitizing, and at times almost comic: suffering is piled on suffering, accident on chance in a dark farce in which wounded survivors seem doomed to meet each other continuously for eternity.

Conceptual Depth and Final Evaluation

If this sounds not exactly life and resembling uncertainty, that is element of the author's thesis. These wounded people are burdened by the crimes they have suffered, trapped in cycles of thought and behavior that churn and plunge and may in turn hurt others. The author has discussed about the influence of his individual experiences of mistreatment and he depicts with understanding the way his cast navigate this risky landscape, reaching out for remedies – isolation, frigid water immersion, forgiveness or invigorating honesty – that might bring illumination.

The book's "basic" framing isn't particularly instructive, while the brisk pace means the discussion of social issues or online networks is primarily superficial. But while The Elements is a imperfect work, it's also a thoroughly accessible, victim-focused chronicle: a welcome response to the common preoccupation on authorities and criminals. The author illustrates how pain can affect lives and generations, and how time and compassion can soften its reverberations.