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In this collection of short stories Byatt once again brings her formidable scholarship, compassion and consummate skill to bear. Those familiar with The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye will recognize the intoxicating mix of allegory and fairy tale that is made all the more potent for being held in check by her very English and slightly arch storytelling. Elementals is beautifully crafted. The title provides the unifying theme - fire is countered with ice and dark gives way to light: in the dry heat of the Mediterranean a woman fields the unwelcome attention of a Nordic stranger; an amateur painter struggling to 'solve this blue' of his swimming pool finds the colour is revealed to him by the presence of a malevolent serpent; a languid beauty is stirred from her malaise by dancing in the snow. Byatt's writing shows all the fevered attention to detail of a 17th-century still life - it glistens and disgusts and is familiar. (Kirkus UK)
