🔗 Share this article A New Collection Review: Interconnected Tales of Pain Young Freya spends time with her preoccupied mother in Cornwall when she meets teenage twins. "The only thing better than being aware of a secret," they inform her, "is having one of your own." In the weeks that come after, they will rape her, then bury her alive, a mix of nervousness and annoyance passing across their faces as they ultimately liberate her from her improvised coffin. This may have functioned as the jarring focal point of a novel, but it's only one of multiple horrific events in The Elements, which collects four short novels – published distinctly between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters navigate previous suffering and try to find peace in the contemporary moment. Controversial Context and Thematic Exploration The book's publication has been clouded by the presence of Earth, the subsequent novella, on the longlist for a notable LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, the majority other contenders pulled out in dissent at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been called off. Conversation of trans rights is missing from The Elements, although the author addresses plenty of significant issues. Homophobia, the impact of mainstream and online outlets, caregiver abandonment and abuse are all investigated. Four Stories of Pain In Water, a sorrowful woman named Willow transfers to a secluded Irish island after her husband is jailed for terrible crimes. In Earth, Evan is a soccer player on legal proceedings as an participant to rape. In Fire, the mature Freya juggles retaliation with her work as a doctor. In Air, a dad journeys to a funeral with his adolescent son, and considers how much to disclose about his family's past. Pain is accumulated upon pain as wounded survivors seem destined to meet each other again and again for eternity Linked Accounts Links proliferate. We initially encounter Evan as a boy trying to leave the island of Water. His trial's jury contains the Freya who returns in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, partners with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Minor characters from one story reappear in houses, bars or courtrooms in another. These narrative elements may sound tangled, but the author is skilled at how to power a narrative – his prior acclaimed Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been rendered into dozens languages. His direct prose sparkles with gripping hooks: "after all, a doctor in the burns unit should be wiser than to toy with fire"; "the primary step I do when I arrive on the island is change my name". Personality Portrayal and Storytelling Power Characters are drawn in brief, impactful lines: the empathetic Nigerian priest, the disturbed pub landlord, the daughter at struggle with her mother. Some scenes resonate with sad power or perceptive humour: a boy is hit by his father after wetting himself at a football match; a prejudiced island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour exchange insults over cups of weak tea. The author's ability of bringing you wholeheartedly into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an previous story a real excitement, for the first few times at least. Yet the collective effect of it all is desensitizing, and at times nearly comic: suffering is layered with suffering, chance on accident in a grim farce in which wounded survivors seem destined to encounter each other repeatedly for forever. Thematic Complexity and Final Assessment If this sounds less like life and resembling uncertainty, that is part of the author's message. These damaged people are oppressed by the crimes they have endured, caught in cycles of thought and behavior that churn and spiral and may in turn hurt others. The author has discussed about the impact of his own experiences of harm and he describes with sympathy the way his characters negotiate this dangerous landscape, reaching out for solutions – isolation, icy sea dips, reconciliation or invigorating honesty – that might provide clarity. The book's "fundamental" concept isn't terribly informative, while the quick pace means the discussion of sexual politics or digital platforms is mostly surface-level. But while The Elements is a imperfect work, it's also a thoroughly readable, survivor-centered chronicle: a appreciated riposte to the typical obsession on investigators and perpetrators. The author demonstrates how suffering can run through lives and generations, and how years and care can quieten its reverberations.