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Young Freya spends time with her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she comes across teenage twins. "The only thing better than knowing a secret," they inform her, "is having one of your own." In the days that ensue, they will rape her, then bury her alive, a mix of nervousness and frustration darting across their faces as they finally free her from her makeshift coffin.

This might have stood as the shocking main event of a novel, but it's merely a single of multiple terrible events in The Elements, which gathers four novellas – published distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters negotiate past trauma and try to achieve peace in the current moment.

Debated Context and Subject Exploration

The book's publication has been overshadowed by the inclusion of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the longlist for a significant LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, nearly all other contenders withdrew in dissent at the author's gender-critical views – and this year's prize has now been terminated.

Discussion of gender identity issues is missing from The Elements, although the author explores plenty of major issues. Homophobia, the effect of conventional and digital platforms, parental neglect and assault are all examined.

Distinct Narratives of Pain

• In Water, a grieving woman named Willow transfers to a secluded Irish island after her husband is incarcerated for horrific crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a footballer on legal proceedings as an accessory to rape.
• In Fire, the mature Freya balances revenge with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a dad flies to a funeral with his adolescent son, and considers how much to disclose about his family's history.

Suffering is accumulated upon pain as hurt survivors seem destined to encounter each other again and again for forever

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Relationships abound. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to escape the island of Water. His trial's group contains the Freya who reappears in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, collaborates with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Minor characters from one account return in homes, taverns or courtrooms in another.

These plot threads may sound complex, but the author is skilled at how to power a narrative – his previous successful Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been converted into numerous languages. His straightforward prose sparkles with thriller-ish hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should be wiser than to experiment with fire"; "the first thing I do when I come to the island is modify my name".

Personality Portrayal and Storytelling Power

Characters are portrayed in concise, effective lines: the compassionate Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes ring with tragic 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 swap jabs over cups of watery tea.

The author's ability of transporting you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the comeback of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a authentic frisson, for the opening times at least. Yet the aggregate effect of it all is dulling, and at times almost comic: pain is layered with pain, accident on coincidence in a dark farce in which wounded survivors seem doomed to encounter each other repeatedly for all time.

Thematic Complexity and Final Assessment

If this sounds different from life and more like limbo, that is aspect of the author's thesis. These wounded people are oppressed by the crimes they have suffered, caught in cycles of thought and behavior that agitate and spiral and may in turn hurt others. The author has talked about the influence of his individual experiences of harm and he portrays with compassion the way his ensemble navigate this risky landscape, reaching out for remedies – solitude, frigid water immersion, forgiveness or invigorating honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "basic" framing isn't extremely instructive, while the quick pace means the exploration of social issues or online networks is mostly surface-level. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a thoroughly engaging, survivor-centered epic: a welcome rebuttal to the usual obsession on authorities and criminals. The author illustrates how suffering can affect lives and generations, and how duration and compassion can silence its aftereffects.