🔗 Share this article A New Collection Analysis: Interconnected Stories of Trauma Twelve-year-old Freya is visiting her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she encounters teenage twins. "The only thing better than knowing a secret," they tell her, "comes from possessing one of your own." In the time that ensue, they sexually assault her, then bury her alive, a mix of nervousness and annoyance flitting across their faces as they ultimately release her from her improvised coffin. This could have served as the jarring centrepiece of a novel, but it's merely a single of many awful events in The Elements, which gathers four novellas – issued distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters negotiate historical pain and try to find peace in the current moment. Controversial Context and Thematic Exploration The book's publication has been clouded by the inclusion of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the candidate list for a prominent LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other nominees pulled out in protest at the author's debated views – and this year's prize has now been cancelled. Discussion of gender identity issues is missing from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of major issues. Anti-gay prejudice, the influence of conventional and digital platforms, caregiver abandonment and sexual violence are all examined. Multiple Narratives of Suffering In Water, a sorrowful woman named Willow transfers to a secluded Irish island after her husband is imprisoned for terrible crimes. In Earth, Evan is a soccer player on court case as an accomplice to rape. In Fire, the mature Freya balances retaliation with her work as a doctor. In Air, a parent travels to a burial with his young son, and ponders how much to disclose about his family's background. Trauma is layered with trauma as wounded survivors seem fated to encounter each other repeatedly for eternity Interconnected Narratives Connections proliferate. We originally see 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 reappear in homes, pubs or legal settings in another. These plot threads may sound tangled, but the author knows how to propel a narrative – his previous acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold numerous units, and he has been converted into many languages. His straightforward prose sparkles with suspenseful hooks: "ultimately, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to experiment with fire"; "the first thing I do when I reach the island is change my name". Character Development and Storytelling Power Characters are sketched in brief, effective lines: the compassionate Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes ring with tragic power or observational humour: a boy is punched by his father after having an accident at a football match; a narrow-minded island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap insults over cups of watery tea. The author's ability of bringing you completely into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a authentic thrill, for the initial several times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is desensitizing, and at times nearly comic: suffering is accumulated upon trauma, chance on coincidence in a bleak farce in which damaged survivors seem fated to bump into each other again and again for all time. Conceptual Depth and Concluding Assessment If this sounds different from life and more like limbo, that is element of the author's message. These damaged people are oppressed by the crimes they have suffered, trapped in cycles of thought and behavior that stir and spiral and may in turn harm others. The author has spoken about the influence of his individual experiences of abuse and he portrays with compassion the way his cast navigate this perilous landscape, striving for remedies – isolation, frigid water immersion, forgiveness or refreshing honesty – that might provide clarity. The book's "fundamental" concept isn't extremely informative, while the quick pace means the exploration of sexual politics or online networks is mostly superficial. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a entirely engaging, trauma-oriented epic: a appreciated rebuttal to the usual preoccupation on detectives and perpetrators. The author illustrates how suffering can permeate lives and generations, and how time and tenderness can silence its aftereffects.