The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

by Kate · September 7, 2024

Anyone who has ever watched a film with time-travel, or read a book with time-travel, or dissociated on a delayed public transport vehicle by considering the concept of time-travel, will know that the moment you start to think about the physics of it, you are in a crock of shit. How does it work? How can it work? I exist at the beginning and end of this account simultaneously, which is a kind of time-travel, and I’m here to tell you: don’t worry about it. All you need to know is that in your near future, the British government developed the means to travel through time but had not yet experimented with doing it. [p.5]

Spoken by our nameless narrator, this paragraph reflects just a part of what is to come: a terrific story with a blend of science fiction, speculative fiction, spy thriller, adventure, historical fiction, romance, comedy of manners and cultural critique with two equally compelling timelines driving a suspenseful plot. In the present-day narrative, the witty, sexy, sardonic unnamed narrator of our story applies for a top-secret British government job as a “bridge.” The Ministry of Justice in London is using modern technology to see if researchers can bring five individuals from different historical eras to modern day London. They are planning to study the psychological, social and physiological implications of taking someone from one period of history and moving them into another. When she is hired for the job, our narrator is tasked with living with, assisting, and monitoring one of these individuals.

The time-travel project was the first time in history that any person had been brought out of their time and into their far future. In this sense, the predicament of the expats was unique. But the rhythms of loss and asylum, exodus and loneliness, roll like floods across human history. [p. 271]

The individual assigned to our narrator is Commander Graham Gore or ‘expat 1847’. Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic. His life experience before becoming an ‘expat’ provides our historical narrative.

Perhaps he’ll die this time.

He finds this doesn’t worry him. Maybe because he’s so cold he has a drunkard’s grip on his mind. When thoughts come, they’re translucent, free-swimming medusae. As the Artic wind bites at his hands and feet, his thoughts slop against his skull. They’ll be the last thing to freeze over.

He knows he is walking, though he can no longer feel it. The ice in front of him bounces and retreats, so he must be moving forward. He has a gun across his back, a bag across his front. Their weight is both meaningless and Sisyphean.

He is in a good mood. If his lips were not beyond sensation, he would whistle.

In the distance, he hears the boom of cannon fire. Three in a row, like a sneeze. The ship is signaling. [p. 1]

Even though there are serious issues addressed throughout The Ministry of Time I found the book to be very humorous. Kaliane Bradley does a great job of mixing real-life characters with fictional ones and each character shows their idiosyncrasies and unique personalities. For example, here is the narrator, comparing herself to her sister.

My younger sister was a far more skilled dissembler. I was dutiful with language, and she was evasive, pugnacious with it. This is why I became a translator and she became a writer — or at least she tried to become a writer and became a copy editor. I was paid considerably more than her, and my parents understood what my job was, so I would say that karma worked in my favor. My sister would say something along the lines of: ‘Go fuck yourself.’ But I know she means it in a friendly way, probably. [p. 7]

And again, the narrator, this time helping Commander Gore acclimate to his new surroundings.

“I should warn you that these days, blowing up an Arabian port because you want to claim it for the empire is generally frowned upon.” [p. 27]

Or dealing with his inability to acclimate:

Gore couldn’t understand the simultaneity of stacks of meat in supermarkets and our anxiety around hunting. Someone on the Wellness team taught the expats the term “quality of life” and somehow, grumbling about his inability to hunt and the paucity of countryside to hunt in, he parlayed the term into an air rifle.

I came down one morning to find he’d killed all the squirrels in the garden. He’d piled them in a grotesque furry cairn.

“What the hell?!”

“There is no need to swear. I have heard you talk to them in the roughest way about the lawn, so I thought I would dispatch them.”

“They’re dead!”

“Of course they are. I’m a very good shot. How do you feel about pigeons?”

“Leave the pigeons alone!” [pp. 56-57]

The author is also a master of setting a scene as when she describes the government-chosen hiding place for her:

The local area felt hostile to human engagement. There was not much space for pedestrians and far too many cars. Every other turning gave onto the blank stare of concrete or glass buildings. It was the kind of area that makes pigeons extra ugly. But it was crowded with people, living on top of one another, working around one another, some in suits and some in uniforms. I could see why the Ministry thought we’d be hidden here. There were so many unhappy people that a gun wouldn’t suffice. You’d have to drop a bomb to ensure I was the right sad soul to die. [p. 226]

Apparently, there is a Spanish TV series about time travel with the same name as this novel El ministerio del tiempo. Other than that, there is no similarity. El ministerio del tiempo is a historical adventure series in which the main characters journey back to many different time periods. In The Ministry of Time, we don’t see any characters travelling back in time.

The audio version of The Ministry of Time has been recommended by Tami Orendain in BookPage. Orendain states that Audiobook reader Katie Leung’s excellent narration covers events in the present, demonstrating a deft ability to recreate cadences of different time periods of different expats. George Weightman narrates moments from the characters’ pasts, giving these reflections a solemn, nostalgic tone. Together their complementary narrative styles reflect the time-twisting, culture-crossing nature of this book. Weightman and Leung bring the many histories and personalities of this time-travel adventure to life, making The Ministry of Time a uniquely immersive listening experience.

Twenty-one publishers bid for this novel which has become a New York Times bestseller, a Good Morning America Book Club pick, one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of summer, 2024, and one of the best books of summer for The Washington Post. Read it in any season! You’ll love it!