Product Description
- Titles in This Set.
- Water.
- Earth.
- Fire.
- Air.
- Details
- Condition: New
- Format: Hardback.
- ISBN: Not verified (see note)
- Publisher: Doubleday (Transworld / Penguin Random House).
- Age Range: Adult.
- Overview.
- This four-novella hardback set brings together John Boyne's acclaimed quartet Water, Earth, Fire and Air, each a compact, standalone story built around a single elemental theme.
- Boyne, one of Ireland's most celebrated novelists, uses the short-novel form to interrogate guilt, complicity, identity and forgiveness with precision.
- Readers who enjoyed his longer literary fiction will find the same emotional intelligence here, distilled into four tightly plotted, human stories that reward slow, attentive reading..
- About the Books.
- Each novella stands entirely alone, yet together they form a loose meditation on how ordinary people respond when their lives are upended by scandal, trauma or moral reckoning.
- In Water, a woman arrives on a remote island under a new name, hoping distance will let her outrun a past scandal, only to find truth has a way of following.
- Earth follows a young footballer drawn into a high-profile criminal trial, forcing him to confront the silences that shaped his career.
- Fire centres on a successful surgeon whose composed adult life is shadowed by a childhood summer she has never faced, raising questions about how cruelty is formed.
- Air closes the quartet with a father and his teenage son on a long-haul flight toward a reckoning, exploring fractured fatherhood and repair.
- Boyne's prose throughout is spare and controlled, favouring interior tension over spectacle, and each story can be read in a single sitting.
- Presented together in matching hardback format, this set is designed for readers who want the complete quartet as one cohesive experience..
- Complete quartet: All four elemental novellas
- Water, Earth, Fire and Air — together in one set..
- Quick, powerful reads: Each novella can be finished in one or two sittings, ideal for busy readers..
- Handsome hardback format: Durable, collectible editions that display well on any shelf..
- Rich, discussable themes: Guilt, identity, complicity and redemption make these ideal for book clubs..
- From an award-winning author: John Boyne's international reputation adds trust and literary credibility..
- Gift-ready: A thoughtful present for adult readers who love character-driven, morally complex fiction..
- About the Author.
- John Boyne is an Irish novelist best known for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which sold millions of copies worldwide and was adapted into a major film.
- He has published numerous novels for adults and younger readers, translated into dozens of languages, and has received multiple Irish Book Awards.
- Across his work, Boyne returns to themes of conscience, history and the long shadow of the past, and this quartet represents a compressed, intense expression of these preoccupations..
- Why You'll Love This Set.
- Four complete, emotionally charged novellas in one hardback collection — perfect for readers who want depth without a lengthy commitment, and a genuinely thoughtful gift for any literary fiction fan..
- Please Note: Cover art may vary slightly from the image shown; this is the current UK edition.
- ISBN details are subject to confirmation prior to dispatch.
Specifications
| Condition | New |
|---|---|
| Alternate Image | https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0642/4549/8093/files/john-boyne-water-earth-fire-air-4-book-set-hardback-cover.webp?v=1784389302 |
| Was Price | £41.99 |
| Alternate Image Two | https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0642/4549/8093/files/john-boyne-water-earth-fire-air-hardback-set-spines.webp?v=1784389302 |
| Alternate Image Three | https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0642/4549/8093/files/john-boyne-water-earth-fire-air-hardback-set-angle.webp?v=1784389302 |
| Alternate Image Four | https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0642/4549/8093/files/john-boyne-water-earth-fire-air-hardback-set-stack.webp?v=1784389302 |
Affiliate Disclosure: We may earn a commission when you purchase through our links, at no extra cost to you. This helps support our independent reviews. Learn more