The Ministry Of Time - Kaliene Bradley

Speculative Fiction

Rating: 8/10

A time-travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of existence and history and the potential for love to change it.

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.

Supported by a chaotic and charming cast of characters, including a 17th-century cinephile who can’t get enough of Tinder, a painfully shy World War I captain, and a former spy with an ever-changing series of cosmetic surgery alterations and a belligerent attitude to HR, the ‘bridge’ will be forced to confront the past that shaped her choices, and the choices that will shape the future.

This is the sort of novel you fall into, only to come up for breath to eat and sleep, though you may forgo the sleep. What can I say…I was charmed.

Footnote: One of the accolades on the back of the book gave a great definition of speculative fiction. “First estrange your reader from their own era, then write the path that will facilitate their way back to it.”

Book Pairing(s): Sea Of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, What The Wind Knows by Amy Harmon