The Ministry of Time
Books | Fiction / Literary
3.9
(65)
Kaliane Bradley
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF SUMMER 2024 • A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR SCIENCE FICTION • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, VANITY FAIR, ESQUIRE, VOX, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, THE INDEPENDENT, PARADE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND MORE… “This summer’s hottest debut.” —Cosmopolitan • “Witty, sexy escapist fiction [that] packs a substantial punch...Fresh and thrilling.” —Los Angeles Times • “Electric...I loved every second.” —Emily Henry “Utterly winning...Imagine if The Time Traveler’s Wife had an affair with A Gentleman in Moscow...Readers, I envy you: There’s a smart, witty novel in your future.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post 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.
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More Details:
Author
Kaliane Bradley
Pages
352
Publisher
Simon and Schuster
Published Date
2024-05-07
ISBN
1668045141 9781668045145
Community ReviewsSee all
"This is the first book I've read by this author and I found her writing to be all over the place. This made it somewhat hard to follow. I had to adjust to her writing every time I picked it up. I got the feeling that she's trying too hard to be profound or lyrical but it was sometimes nonsensical or the words chosen borderline confusing. I’m not actually sure what I just read. "
"Absolutely loved this book and the bittersweet ending really did fit the story as a whole if you know what I mean? Ive always been obsessed with this sort of thing and it felt dystopian but not so much that I disliked it. Its like "this is how you lose the time war" but easier to read and more human if that makes sense?"
"I think it’s neat "
I
Izzy
"I am struggling to finish this book. The plot is both slow and too obvious, and the main character is painfully dim-witted. (I think the author is going for young and naive, so perhaps I am just too old and aware in my 30s!) There is very little to keep your attention after the initial excitement of such an interesting concept for a novel. By 40% of the way through I was on here looking for encouragement to continue. I'm at 68% now and may just go ahead and give up. I really wanted this to be good, as I've waited weeks for my turn! I think perhaps the author is just not my style."
T C
Tina Crossen
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