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Book of the Month

A Reason to Read...

"A feast of a novel - singular, alarming and (above all) incredibly sexy" - Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under the Sea

The Ministry of Time : One of the Observer's Debut Novels of 2024

May 2024

The Ministry of Time : One of the Observer's Debut Novels of 2024 - Kaliane Bradley

In the near future, a disaffected civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering 'expats' from across history to test the limits of time-travel. Her role is to work as a 'bridge': living with, assisting and monitoring the expat known as '1847' - Commander Graham Gore.

As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to find himself alive and surrounded by outlandish concepts such as 'washing machine', 'Spotify' and 'the collapse of the British Empire'. With an appetite for discovery and a seven-a-day cigarette habit, he soon adjusts; and during a long, sultry summer he and his bridge move from awkwardness to genuine friendship, to something more. But as the true shape of the project that brought them together begins to emerge, Gore and the bridge are forced to confront their past choices and imagined futures.

Can love triumph over the structures and histories that have shaped them? And how do you defy history when history is living in your house?

£16.99

£14.09

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Meet the Author

Kaliane Bradley

Kaliane Bradley is a British-Cambodian writer and editor based in London. Her short stories have appeared in Electric Literature, Catapult, Somesuch Stories and The Willowherb Review, among others. She was the winner of the 2022 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Prize and the 2022 V. S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. 

The Ministry of Time is her first novel, it was an Observer Best of 2024 debut and has sold in 20 languages to date.

Don't Just Take Our Word For It!

The Rabbit Hole Bookshop

I thought that at the age of 40 I was beyond crushes on fictional characters, but it appears not! I loved everything about The Ministry of Time. The characters, the concept, the genre hopping plot that kept things constantly interesting in the best possible way. I’m a sucker for time travel tales anyway, but this basically parcelled up everything I adore and sent it straight to my doorstep. I’m now grieving its end and I’m desperately hoping that there will be more!!

Old Hall Bookshop

I have not had so much fun with a book in a long time. This book defies genres with elements of romance, thriller, and sci-fi. When in the near future, a civil servant is offered a job in a new government ministry, she finds that she must gather ‘expats’ from across time to test the limits of time travel. Her one job is to work as a ‘bridge’ which entails living, assisting and monitoring one particular expat. To begin with he finds himself incredibly out of place but as time goes on, they form an unbreakable bond. This book is funny, sad, and incredibly clever and gives the concept of time travel in novels the long over due shake up it needed.

Padstow Bookseller

Such a clever plot that kept me enthralled from the start. Told from the prospective of a civil servant and set a little way in the future. The government is experimenting with time travel and the new ministry is gathering ‘ex pats’ from history. One of these is Commander Graham Gore or ‘1847’ as he is now known. As the role of his ‘bridge’ she monitors and aids in his adjustment to this world and explains what he sees as outlandish concepts – the world was vastly different in 1847. But as their relationship changes so does the project, what is really the desired outcome? and how will it change them and the world? Unique and thoroughly entertaining, weird in the best way and creates a different viewpoint on so many relevant topics dealing with them bluntly and honestly. A truly remarkable book.