🔗 Share this article A New Collection Review: Linked Stories of Trauma Twelve-year-old Freya stays with her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she encounters teenage twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they tell her, "comes from possessing one of your own." In the time that follow, they violate her, then entomb her breathing, a mix of anxiety and irritation darting across their faces as they finally liberate her from her makeshift coffin. This might have stood as the shocking centrepiece of a novel, but it's only one of numerous horrific events in The Elements, which gathers four short novels – issued separately between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront historical pain and try to achieve peace in the current moment. Disputed Context and Thematic Exploration The book's release has been overshadowed by the addition of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the longlist for a prominent LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, most other nominees pulled out in protest 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 significant issues. LGBTQ+ discrimination, the impact of conventional and digital platforms, caregiver abandonment and assault are all explored. Distinct Stories of Suffering In Water, a mourning woman named Willow transfers to a isolated Irish island after her husband is jailed for horrific crimes. In Earth, Evan is a footballer on legal proceedings as an participant to rape. In Fire, the grown-up Freya juggles retaliation with her work as a surgeon. In Air, a father journeys to a funeral with his young son, and wonders how much to reveal about his family's background. Trauma is layered with suffering as hurt survivors seem destined to bump into each other continuously for forever Related Stories Relationships proliferate. We originally see Evan as a boy trying to flee the island of Water. His trial's panel contains the Freya who returns in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, collaborates with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Supporting characters from one account reappear in cottages, bars or courtrooms in another. These narrative elements may sound complex, but the author knows how to propel a narrative – his earlier acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been converted into numerous languages. His businesslike prose sparkles with gripping hooks: "in the end, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to experiment with fire"; "the primary step I do when I reach the island is modify my name". Character Portrayal and Narrative Strength Characters are sketched in succinct, powerful lines: the compassionate Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at conflict with her mother. Some scenes resonate with melancholy power or observational humour: a boy is punched by his father after wetting himself at a football match; a prejudiced island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour trade insults over cups of weak tea. The author's ability of transporting you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the comeback of a character or plot strand from an prior story a authentic thrill, for the first few times at least. Yet the aggregate effect of it all is numbing, and at times practically comic: suffering is piled on suffering, chance on coincidence in a grim farce in which damaged survivors seem destined to bump into each other again and again for eternity. Thematic Complexity and Concluding Assessment If this sounds different from life and closer to limbo, that is part of the author's message. These wounded people are weighed down by the crimes they have suffered, trapped in routines of thought and behavior that churn and descend and may in turn hurt others. The author has talked about the effect of his own experiences of abuse and he portrays with compassion the way his characters negotiate this dangerous landscape, extending for treatments – isolation, icy sea dips, resolution or refreshing honesty – that might provide clarity. The book's "basic" framing isn't extremely instructive, while the brisk pace means the examination of gender dynamics or digital platforms is primarily shallow. But while The Elements is a imperfect work, it's also a entirely accessible, trauma-oriented saga: a valued response to the usual preoccupation on investigators and criminals. The author illustrates how pain can affect lives and generations, and how duration and care can soften its reverberations.