The Elements Exploration: Interwoven Tales of Trauma

Twelve-year-old Freya spends time with her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she encounters 14-year-old twins. "The only thing better than being aware of a secret," they inform her, "comes from possessing one of your own." In the time that come after, they sexually assault her, then bury her alive, combination of unease and frustration flitting across their faces as they eventually free her from her temporary coffin.

This may have functioned as the shocking main event of a novel, but it's only one of multiple terrible events in The Elements, which gathers four novelettes – issued individually between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate historical pain and try to discover peace in the present moment.

Controversial Context and Subject Exploration

The book's issuance has been overshadowed by the inclusion of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the longlist for a significant LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, most other nominees dropped out in objection at the author's debated views – and this year's prize has now been called off.

Conversation of LGBTQ+ matters is missing from The Elements, although the author explores plenty of big issues. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the influence of traditional and social media, caregiver abandonment and sexual violence are all examined.

Multiple Stories of Trauma

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow relocates 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 participant to rape.
• In Fire, the adult Freya juggles retaliation with her work as a medical professional.
• In Air, a father flies to a funeral with his adolescent son, and considers how much to divulge about his family's past.

Suffering is layered with pain as damaged survivors seem doomed to meet each other continuously for eternity

Interconnected Accounts

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

These storylines may sound complex, but the author is skilled at how to drive a narrative – his previous popular Holocaust drama has sold numerous units, and he has been translated into numerous languages. His direct prose bristles with suspenseful hooks: "ultimately, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to toy with fire"; "the first thing I do when I come to the island is alter my name".

Personality Development and Storytelling Power

Characters are sketched in concise, powerful lines: the empathetic Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes echo with melancholy power or insightful humour: a boy is struck by his father after wetting himself at a football match; a biased island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap insults over cups of diluted tea.

The author's talent of carrying you fully into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an earlier story a authentic frisson, for the first few times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is dulling, and at times practically comic: pain is accumulated upon suffering, chance on chance in a grim farce in which damaged survivors seem destined to encounter each other again and again for all time.

Conceptual Depth and Final Assessment

If this sounds different from life and more like uncertainty, that is part of the author's message. These hurt people are oppressed by the crimes they have experienced, stuck in patterns of thought and behavior that agitate and plunge and may in turn hurt others. The author has talked about the influence of his personal experiences of mistreatment and he depicts with understanding the way his cast navigate this perilous landscape, reaching out for solutions – isolation, icy sea dips, resolution or refreshing honesty – that might let light in.

The book's "fundamental" structure isn't extremely educational, while the brisk pace means the examination of gender dynamics or digital platforms is primarily superficial. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a completely accessible, victim-focused chronicle: a appreciated response to the typical fixation on authorities and criminals. The author demonstrates how trauma can affect lives and generations, and how duration and care can silence its aftereffects.