by Kaliane Bradley, paperback, £9.99
Silly, romantic, and stuffed with ideas, this hugely entertaining novel made me laugh at the snappy dialogue and gasp at the twists.
The narrator is a civil servant who is assigned to look after one of several people who have arrived from the past. Her assignment is Commander Graham Gore, who has come from 1847. As Gore’s ‘bridge’ to modern life, the narrator is supposed to help him acclimatise to his new situation – and to keep an eye on him.
As they get closer, there are funny and testing clashes of culture and ideas. As a cyclist I enjoyed how much Gore loved learning to cycle around London. The character is based on a real-life Arctic naval officer from Franklin’s doomed mission, who you may recognise from the show The Terror. His flashbacks to the crisis that preceded him being transported are vivid, so the author’s immersion in the archives pays off.
But The Ministry of Time is meatier than a straightforward odd couple romance. How did Gore get here? Who is controlling access to time transport, and why? And when one of you is from a period where the British Empire is celebrated, and the other is not, how do you negotiate your differing thinking about the world?
Friendship and camaraderie with other time travellers, who are all from very different periods in British history, provides another engaging and often moving part of the story.
A truly satisfying read, it was a bit of a treat. I am refusing to lend it to anyone as I am certain to read it again, the next time I need a cheer up.
Review by Bethan