NEED TO KNOW

Over four weeks leading up to publication, PEOPLE has exclusive serial excerpts from bestselling Irish novelist John Boyne's The Elements

Read the first excerpt below

The Elements arrives on shelves Sept. 9 from Henry Holt and Company

WATER

The first thing I do when I arrive on the island is change my name.

I’ve been Vanessa Carvin for a long time, 28 years, but I was Vanessa Hale for 24 years before that and there’s an unexpected comfort in reclaiming my birthright, which sometimes feels as if it was stolen from me.

Then I change it again, this time to Willow Hale. Willow is my middle name, and it seems prudent to take a further step in separating the woman I am now from the woman I once was, lest anyone here makes the connection. My parents were unremarkable, middl

See Full Page