A New Collection Exploration: Linked Tales of Pain

Young Freya spends time with her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she meets 14-year-old twins. "The only thing better than being aware of a secret," they tell her, "is having one of your own." In the days that follow, they sexually assault her, then bury her alive, blend of unease and irritation flitting across their faces as they ultimately release her from her makeshift coffin.

This might have stood as the jarring centrepiece of a novel, but it's just one of many terrible events in The Elements, which gathers four novellas – released individually between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters negotiate previous suffering and try to achieve peace in the contemporary moment.

Debated Context and Thematic Exploration

The book's issuance has been marred by the presence of Earth, the second novella, on the candidate list for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other candidates withdrew in dissent at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been terminated.

Conversation of LGBTQ+ matters is absent from The Elements, although the author touches on plenty of major issues. Homophobia, the influence of traditional and social media, parental neglect and assault are all examined.

Multiple Accounts of Trauma

• In Water, a mourning woman named Willow transfers to a remote Irish island after her husband is incarcerated for terrible crimes.
• In Earth, Evan is a athlete on legal proceedings as an accomplice to rape.
• In Fire, the grown-up Freya juggles revenge with her work as a doctor.
• In Air, a parent flies to a burial with his young son, and considers how much to disclose about his family's background.

Pain is layered with pain as wounded survivors seem destined to meet each other again and again for forever

Linked Narratives

Connections proliferate. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to flee the island of Water. His trial's jury contains the Freya who shows up again in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, collaborates with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Supporting characters from one narrative return in cottages, taverns or legal settings in another.

These storylines may sound tangled, but the author is skilled at how to drive a narrative – his previous acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold many copies, and he has been translated into many languages. His businesslike prose sparkles with thriller-ish hooks: "ultimately, a doctor in the burns unit should understand more than to toy with fire"; "the first thing I do when I arrive on the island is change my name".

Character Development and Storytelling Strength

Characters are portrayed in brief, powerful lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes ring with melancholy power or insightful humour: a boy is hit by his father after urinating at a football match; a narrow-minded island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap insults over cups of weak tea.

The author's ability of transporting you fully into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an prior story a authentic excitement, for the opening times at least. Yet the cumulative effect of it all is numbing, and at times practically comic: suffering is layered with pain, accident on coincidence in a grim farce in which wounded survivors seem doomed to encounter each other continuously for all time.

Conceptual Depth and Concluding Evaluation

If this sounds less like life and closer to limbo, that is part of the author's thesis. These damaged people are burdened by the crimes they have experienced, trapped in patterns of thought and behavior that stir and spiral and may in turn hurt others. The author has talked about the effect of his individual experiences of mistreatment and he depicts with compassion the way his characters negotiate this risky landscape, reaching out for remedies – solitude, icy sea dips, resolution or bracing honesty – that might bring illumination.

The book's "basic" framing isn't terribly informative, while the quick pace means the exploration of gender dynamics or social media is mainly shallow. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a entirely readable, survivor-centered chronicle: a welcome response to the typical obsession on authorities and offenders. The author illustrates how trauma can permeate lives and generations, and how time and care can silence its aftereffects.