Publisher: Avid Reader Press

ISBN: 9781668045145

A civil servant discovers that all is not as it may seem in a pioneer government program that involves time travel and helping historical figures assimilate to the 21st century. As the woman begins to make inquiries, she discovers a larger plot at play. Debut Author Kaliane Bradley tackles several weighty topics and handles all of them with aplomb in her first book The Ministry of Time.

In the near future, an unnamed British citizen is in the final round of her interviews for a new position in civil service. She’s risen as high as she can in the languages department of the Ministry of Defense as a translator and needs a new paycheck. When the opportunity comes to apply, she jumps at it.

Much to her surprise, she makes the cut to become what is informally known as a “bridge” for a brand new program in the Ministry of Expatriation: the British government has solved the problem of time travel and has retrieved five “expats” from various centuries in the past to study the effects of their new tech. Each of the expats will be paired with a bridge for a year. The expat and bridge will live together, and the bridge will act as the expat’s guide to the 21st century.

The protagonist bridge is assigned to Commander Graham Gore, a naval officer who was on an expedition in 1847 to find the Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Gore is retrieved moments before he dies on the expedition and experiences an understandable shock at being in London in a completely different century. Despite his discomfort, he makes peace with this sudden turn of events and agrees to move into the government-issued home with the bridge.

For the next year, the bridge helps Gore settle into his new century. The living arrangements prove to be difficult for Gore at first who lived in an age of utmost propriety between men and women. With so many new discoveries to be made every day thanks to the bridge, though, he makes sincere attempts at assimilating into this new world. The bridge performs her assigned tasks, recording Gore’s reactions and basic vital signs every day and filing her paperwork like clockwork along with the other bridges.

Soon, however, the bridge makes a startling discovery. She and the other bridges have been collecting reams of data, yet none of it is being taken seriously. When one of the other expats begins experiencing a strange sensation that all five can only describe as “thereness,” the bridge begins to wonder whether she and the other bridges really do know what’s going on. The science and technology of time travel is wondrous enough, as is the retrieval of people from the past. But where will all this lead eventually? And why does it seem like the Ministry of Expatriation has hidden motives?

Author Kaliane Bradley juggles a variety of serious topics and for the most part does them justice. She doesn’t hesitate to channel her protagonist’s dry wit to comment on British colonialism, racism, and sexism, making keen-eyed observations and then leaving them with the reader before moving on to the next topic. With the premise of time travel as the backdrop, Bradley’s deep research into Gore’s original expedition shines and makes the novel a richer experience.

While the romance between the bridge and Gore may seem inevitable, its unfolding will still surprise many readers. Like the best love stories of the 19th century, Bradley takes her time in bringing her two characters together. Before they do become a couple, she lets readers take a jaunt through London and modern conveniences with a new view of everything. 

Bradley doesn’t try to belabor—or insult—the book with the science and physics behind time travel. Instead, the protagonist bridge reassures readers that they can trust her to tell them the most important part of the story. Clearly, solving one of the biggest mysteries of science isn’t it, which will delight fans of science fiction who want more than the “science” of the genre.

While the revelation of why the protagonist doesn't get a name comes a little too late, the increasing intimacy of the storytelling may surprise readers and get them guessing as to the real recipient of the story. The ending stays true to the genre and to the story world Bradley has created. For fans of science fiction and those who are thinking of dabbling in the genre, I recommend readers Bookmark The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.