The Ministry of Time – Kaliane Bradley

This is the first of my holiday reading (I went to the UK and France). This book was everywhere, so I decided to give it a go.

Here’s the blurb …

A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.

I enjoyed this novel. The writing, the world-building, and the characters were all magnificent. It made me think about time travel in a new way – how hard would it be to travel to the future (particularly the one who came from the 16th century – although she didn’t seem to find it difficult) and then have to acclimatise and fit in?

When I was in London, I went to the maritime museum and there was a whole section on Franklin’s Lost Expedition – they have the Victory Point Note and many artifacts from the doomed expedition. It was very interesting.

While this is science fiction – there is time travel after all, it’s probably more crime, thriller or adventure. It could also be called a romantasy (but I think it has more to say than a typical romantasy). There is something mysterious going on at the Ministry of Time – strange people and weapons. So if SciFi is not your thing, don’t be put off you will still enjoy this novel. It has things to say about the strength of the human spirit, and about climate change, and about selfishness or self-repservation.

A review.