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Twelve-year-old Freya is visiting her self-absorbed mother in Cornwall when she meets 14-year-old twins. "The only thing better than being aware of a secret," they advise her, "comes from possessing one of your own." In the weeks that come after, they sexually assault her, then entomb her breathing, a mix of nervousness and irritation darting across their faces as they ultimately free her from her improvised coffin.

This might have stood as the disturbing focal point of a novel, but it's merely a single of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which assembles four novellas – released separately between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters negotiate historical pain and try to achieve peace in the present moment.

Controversial Context and Subject Exploration

The book's release has been overshadowed by the addition of Earth, the second novella, on the preliminary list for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, most other candidates pulled out in objection at the author's gender-critical views – and this year's prize has now been cancelled.

Debate of trans rights is not present from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of significant issues. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the influence of mainstream and online outlets, family disregard and sexual violence are all examined.

Four Accounts of Suffering

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow moves to a isolated Irish island after her husband is jailed for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a soccer player on court case as an accessory to rape.
• In Fire, the mature Freya balances retaliation with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a parent flies to a memorial service with his adolescent son, and considers how much to disclose about his family's history.

Trauma is layered with suffering as hurt survivors seem destined to meet each other again and again for all time

Related Narratives

Connections multiply. We originally see Evan as a boy trying to escape the island of Water. His trial's group 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 story resurface in cottages, bars or judicial venues in another.

These plot threads may sound complicated, but the author understands how to drive a narrative – his prior successful Holocaust drama has sold numerous units, and he has been converted into numerous languages. His direct prose shines with gripping hooks: "in the end, a doctor in the burns unit should understand more than to experiment with fire"; "the initial action I do when I come to the island is change my name".

Character Portrayal and Storytelling Power

Characters are drawn in brief, impactful lines: the compassionate Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at conflict with her mother. Some scenes ring with sad power or insightful humour: a boy is hit by his father after urinating at a football match; a prejudiced island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour exchange insults over cups of watery tea.

The author's ability of transporting you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a real excitement, for the opening times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is dulling, and at times nearly comic: suffering is piled on trauma, coincidence on accident in a grim farce in which hurt survivors seem doomed to encounter each other repeatedly for forever.

Thematic Complexity and Concluding Assessment

If this sounds different from life and more like limbo, that is element of the author's message. These wounded people are oppressed by the crimes they have endured, stuck in routines of thought and behavior that agitate and descend and may in turn hurt others. The author has talked about the impact of his personal experiences of abuse and he portrays with compassion the way his characters negotiate this perilous landscape, extending for treatments – solitude, cold ocean swims, reconciliation or bracing honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "elemental" framing isn't particularly instructive, while the rapid pace means the exploration of social issues or digital platforms is mainly superficial. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a thoroughly accessible, survivor-centered saga: a welcome response to the usual obsession on authorities and perpetrators. The author illustrates how trauma can run through lives and generations, and how years and care can soften its reverberations.