This is absolute gold. It’s a hybrid of romance, adventure, time travel, speculative and historical fiction.

The novel opens with five historical figures brought to near-future Britain by the Home Office where each is supplied with a ‘bridge’. Our unnamed FMC is assigned to Naval Commander Graham Gore, who is extracted from the year 1847 just when he would have died on an Arctic expedition. Graham is a delicious hero who would fit perfectly in just about any historical romance novel. He is gorgeous, clever, stoic and hilarious with a super-dry sense of humour. He is also curious and kind and provides not only a love interest for our FMC, but also care and solace to the other expats.

The early parts of the novel are full of delightful humour and banter as Graham settles into the 21st century. Even while dismantling a toilet, extracting his own teeth, and smoking heavily, he is still utterly attractive, to seemingly everyone - especially our FMC.

As a debut novel, it’s packed with ideas and shenanigans and there’s a lot to follow. With five bridges and five expats, plus all the shady Home Office staff, there many people to keep track of, as well as the (often competing) timelines. There’s also double crossing, attempted murder, and a plot twist I didn’t see coming. Look out for Margaret from 1665. I loved it all 😍

Writer Kaliane has a cheeky turn of phrase, her metaphors are apposite, her vocabulary expansive and her sense of fun is totally on the money: Graham lit a cigarette ‘with anachronistic gallantry’ - I can see him doing it 😮 - I laughed out loud at the visuals - describing a Brigadier as looking oddly formal, ‘as if he was the sole person in serif font’ …

Five stars for originality and the absolute joy of it. Graham Gore was a real person. He wasn't a famous historical figure, but a brave man (his photo and biography are included) and this surprising novel gave him a whole new and imagined life after the end of his own. I adored it. Thank you NetGalley, Kaliane Bradley and Hachette Australia for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

‘Forgiveness and hope are miracles. They let you change your life.’

I think The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley might be the most fun I’ve had with a book in AGES!

I was unsure at first. Time travel, romance, spies, history AND some speculative stuff thrown in for good measure? It’s a lot, and you have to suspend your disbelief for it to work.

Set in London in the near future, it’s about a civil servant who’s assigned to a special ministry project in which “expats” are collected from across history and brought back through time to the present. The experiment will test whether time travel is feasible, and what the consequences across the space-time continuum would be.

Her role is to act as a “bridge”: living with her assigned expat, Commander Graham Gore, and helping him adjust to modern life. And that will take some work - as far as history is concerned, Gore (who’s a real historical figure) died in 1847 on an expedition to the arctic. Suddenly he’s transported to a world of short skirts, washing machines and Spotify. Over the course of a year, the two grow too close…and the ministry’s true intentions are exposed.

I genuinely couldn’t stop reading this. It will require you to trust the author, abandon your sensibilities - but if you do, it’s wildly entertaining (if highly implausible 😂)

I know it feels like there’s a lot being tackled here, but Bradley pulls it off. I was gripped, and it has twist so delightful I actually gasped when I understood what was going on. It did get a little confusing there for a bit - I just went with it and hoped it would come together. It’s also funny, which I didn’t expect. Bradley is a writer to watch!

There’s so much heart in this novel, and it does tackle some ethical issues - not deeply, so keep those expectations in check. Your ability to enjoy it will probably depend on your willingness to embrace the premise and just have fun with the story. The whole thing is a bit of a romp, and it really does not require overthinking.

Thank you so much for my ARC!

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley is an intriguing and fun time travel romp. As someone who has enjoyed books like 'Lost in Time' and '11.22.36', this book takes some of the best from these novels whilst adding its own twist on the genre. I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship between the two protagonists, and thought the author did a very interesting job examining how individuals from different time periods would adapt to living in modern times. I also appreciated how the novel didn't spend too much time trying to explain the mechanics of time travel (as has been done quite often) and instead dived straight into the fish out of water scenarios that occurs when people displaced from time attempt to adapt to the modern world.

I found the interludes between chapters were a great way to understand Graham's character and were very enjoyable as a fan of historical fiction. I particularly enjoyed these sections as they reminded me of Richard Flanagan's 'Wanting', which was one of my favourite books during 2022.

What I think is most impressive about this book is how it manages to combine so many genres whilst never feeling overwhelming. As this novel is able to blend time travel, romance, mystery, thriller and many other genres, this novel is going to appeal to a very wide audience and I can see it being very well received.

Whilst the twist at the end was quite similar to what I have seen in similar works, I still thought it was a lot of fun and I can see it catching many readers of guard. I found that the whole final hour or so of the book flew by and kept me reading well into the night.

One of my main criticisms is not to do with the title itself, but rather with the formatting of the ebook. Very often there would be paragraph breaks between sentences, and it was sometimes hard to tell who was speaking, as multiple lines of dialogue would merge together. This is no fault of the author though, and I recognise that this could very well be an issue of transferring the e-pub file across to kindle.

Overall, I will definitely be recommending this title when it releases. This genre-blending novel is great for booksellers, as it has something that will appeal to a mass audience, making it very easy to recommend to our customers. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for what else Bradley releases in the future, as I thought this was a great debut.

I would like to give a massive thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing this ARC, and I cannot wait until the 14th of May so that I can recommend this title to customers (many of whom I know will love this book), and my own friends and family.

This book is about a time-travel experiment gone wrong, where a woman acts as a "bridge" (or guide) to a 19th century man brought into the 21st century.

I really loved this book! I thought it was incredibly well-paced, with commentaries on race and individual vs. collective responsibility. While the main character was not always loveable, this felt realistic in a book about time travel, which enhanced the book's standing in my eyes. The nature of characters is not to be loveable, but to make mistakes and fall in love and do all the things we do in real life. The Ministry of Time achieves that and more for me.

The Ministry of Time is a genre crossing book which raises questions about the role of history in our future and the enduring legacy of colonialism.

We follow our unnamed narrator hired by a secretive government agency to be a bridge to the near future to Commander Graham Gore, a Victorian naval officer who has been lost in the footnotes of history. However, the government program is obscure for a reason and the protagonist must decide who she can trust.

Bradley captures the cultural disconnect between the “expats” or the characters plucked from history and their near-future London environment. As our narrator remarks about her charge:

“As it was he was thirty-seven years old, and had not experienced crinolines, A Tale of Two Cities or the enfranchisement of the working classes.”

Our narrator has a delightfully tongue-in-cheek perspective which is contrasted by her steadfast commitment to her charge, a relationship that goes from glorified babysitter to friend and perhaps something more. She struggles with her role in the government as the daughter of a Cambodian refugee. Is she living the dream of safety and security or is she a part of the colonial system that continues to cause global harm? Is it possible to be a victim and an oppressor in a colonial system?

Graham on the other hand is more outwardly colonial, convinced that his role in history is noble while struggling with the fact everyone he knows is dead. However, Gore is willing to learn and change as he adapts to his new environment. He is charming, stoic and curious and one of those characters you can't help but fall in love with.

“Today my overgrown son told a man on an e-scooter he was riding a coward’s vehicle. Today my overgrown son put metal in the microwave, deliberately, even though I told him not to do that, because he wanted to see what would happen.”

We get to see more of the other expats like Margaret “Maggie” Kemble a woman from 1665 who thrives in the near future, her character being vibrant and daring as a result of her newfound freedom. Then there’s sweet Arthur from 1916 who’s dealing with his time in the trenches. If anything I wanted more of the expats but I loved the moments we got to see of them adapting and at times thriving. Although all must deal with the cultural differences, proving that the past truly is another country.

The characters were deftly crafted and drove the action forward. There were times when the plot got a little lost and put on the back burner. My only other critique is that some lines appear overwritten, and where philsophising resulted in confusing metaphors. However, the occasional lack of clarity was more of a line editing rather than an overall coherence problem, so they may be fixed in the final product.

“When we reach the field, it was a line of darkness scrawled on the deeper darkness.”

The Ministry of TIme is a thought-provoking, oftentimes fun, dystopian, sci-fi, time-travel romance. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book and its characters.

On a very rare occasion, a book will come along that somehow combines several of my random niche interests and winds up absolutely captivating me. The Ministry of Time is that kind of book. In fact, I'll probably make it my entire personality for the next six months.

"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."

The protagonist works as a 'bridge' between the present and the past for the 'expat' Commander Graham Gore, who was supposed to die on Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition to the Arctic in 1847, as he navigates the modern world and reckons with the unexpected turn his life has taken.

It's incredibly thought provoking, with the author exploring themes of post-colonialism, history, displacement, identity, and agency. I was particularly struck by the protagonist's hypocrisy as she judges a person from the past's complicity with what was acceptable within the structures of power at that time, whilst entirely failing to examining her own in the present day.

It's also imaginative, funny, romantic, mysterious, heartbreaking, and wholly original. Easily the best thing I've read so far in 2024.

'The Ministry of Time' was one wild ride! I was initially drawn to it as time travel is one of my all-time favourite fiction tropes, but I stayed for the well developed and thoroughly enjoyable characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Australia for providing me with an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

'The Ministry of Time' follows a main character newly promoted to the titular highly-secretive UK government ministry. They're bringing 'expats', people presumed dead in their own times, to modern day to see what effects, if any, time travel has on the human body. Commander Graham Gore, a naval officer who presumably died in an 1840s expedition to the Arctic, is one of these 'expats' and our main character is assigned to 'bridge' him with his new life. Some of the best moments in this book are the comedic scenes that involve the 'expats' discovering foreign modern concepts such as the internet, cinema and online dating.

It's incredibly difficult to shoe-horn this book into any one genre, because it's content covers many. Because of the inclusion of time travel as a concept, it would be easy to assume it's science fiction - but the first half of the book is very light on the science despite this, and is more of a slice-of-life comedy as we watch the 'expats' navigate their way through modern society. The second half, on the other hand, is full of thrilling spy-action sequences, heavier on the science, and a touch of romance. I did not think I would be rooting for any romance in this book, but I absolutely ate it up and the ending had me giggling like a teenage girl. In addition to all of this, every other chapter is historical fiction following the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in the 1840s. Somehow, this mish-mash of genres works for this book - not just works, but works well.

Overall, this is a stunning debut novel that could be recommended to a wide range of readers. I look forward to seeing what Kaliane Bradley writes next!

I am not sure if I enjoyed this book. I am not sure if I am still trying to figure out what happened.

The novel is a lot of genres, or is part of a lot of genres: sci-fi; speculative fiction; literary fiction; spy thriller; historical fiction; action/adventure/spy thriller; romantic comedy.

The story was told in a very 'wordy' way and at times it felt quite long. Longer than it needed to be.

I didn't mind that the MMC was based on a real person (and of course I Wiki'd his story), but I do still wonder about the ethics of writing this narrative for the character, but then remember it's fiction and the whole story is a little left of centre anyway, so there are those thoughts in the background for me.

I think I had the wrong idea about what the book was going to be: I thought it was going to be a time travel novel where the MCs learn about each other's life and eventually come together, in romance or not, professionally, or whatever and they develop as characters, and I am not sure that is what I got from it.

I think I might have enjoyed this more if I wasn't told and shown so many things, or had the story explained to me, but rather could have learnt things on my own.

I really enjoyed this book it was such a clever concept that keeps you captivated throughout, Bradley’s writing style is truly brilliant. The storyline has just the right amount of sci fi, time travel and romance with a nice sprinkling of humour throughout.
I especially enjoyed the characters as they were so well presented and all very loveable. It was such fun to follow how these characters from the past adapted to modern life.
I loved the way Bradley wove a real person into the story. Graham Gore was a really charismatic and fun character who I really enjoyed following.
I think this is a really wonderful debut novel and I really hope we see more from Kaliane Bradley.

Reviews will be published on the given links on the 6th of May

4/5 - Tremendous fun and thought-provoking, but also flawed.

This debut novel, a time-travel, fish-out-of-water mashup, really is a joy to read. Our main time traveller (early Victorian naval officer Graham Gore) almost leaps off the page with life and vibrancy, which made this a book I looked forward to picking up each day. I thought of Graham's journey out of time was (generally) thoughtfully contrasted with the narrator's experience of migration, belonging and identity. No spoilers, but I also thought the very ending was nicely handled, too.

But there were some pretty significant shortcomings. The plot doesn't really hang together properly - too many nonsensical, unlikely, illogical things occur because otherwise there's no book. To that end, I was left with a series of pretty fundamental unanswered plot questions. This makes sense when you consider the premise ("imagine Graham Gore as your housemate...") likely came first and the plot came later, but it is an issue. The prose was occasionally .... weird when striving for original, to the point where some turns of phrase just leave you wondering what the author is getting at. I also found the "hereness and thereness" aspect of time travel hard to buy, but you generally have to give a sci-fi book its premise.

There were a few other drawbacks, too. But hopefully the rating conveys that in spite of its flaws, this was a really fun read. Recommended for those looking for something light and fun with a slice of the immigrant experience, less so for hard sci-fi fans or those who like intricate, thoughtful plots.

I don't feel fully equipped to provide a review as I believe this book simply wasn’t for me, and I always feel bad giving a book a low star rating due to this. Nonetheless, I predict it will be a major success upon its release, garnering a wide readership and selling many copies worldwide.

The book is exceptionally well-crafted, with moments that I genuinely enjoyed, especially the humorous scenes depicting expats adjusting to modern life. However, I found the plot extremely limited until the conclusion which evidently resulted in me not being able to finish this book for two months (while I usually take mere days to start and finish a read). While I was aware that Graham was a real historical figure before reading, incorporating actual historical figures into scenes of a sexual nature did make me feel slightly uneasy.

Such a clever concept, part sci-fi with time travel but really much more. Part history, part romance and a great read.

The Ministry of Time was an absolute blast to read. I loved the humour and style of writing, definitely new to me. I loved all the characters from the beginning but felt like I was apart of the group by the middle of the book. I take pride in being able to see twists before they happen but this was brand new to me, did not see the ending happening. Will have to buy this to reread it to see the Adela interactions again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for this ARC!

I think this is already up there with my favourite books. The concepts of “hereness” and “thereness” and relating these feelings to the expats as well as our unnamed protagonist’s relationship with her Cambodian roots was wonderfully done.

The prose and dialogue was witty and had me laughing out loud, and I latched onto the characters very quickly and found them to be very loveable. I was so attached that I cried for about 5-10 minutes by the end of the book! I genuinely have no faults or critiques to give. I loved it so much.

I can't emphasise how much I enjoyed this book and all its characters! It was the perfect mix of science fiction, thriller, and romance that I've been looking for. Bradley was able to take a real-life historical figure (Commander Gore) and create a charismatic and swoon-worthy character despite the limited knowledge we have of him. She was also able to take an otherwise overwhelming circumstance -- bringing 17th to 20th century people into modern day society -- into a lighthearted and humorous, almost charming, situation. I couldn't help but laugh at how each of the expats attached themselves to different mainstream media, be it Netflix, Spotify, or the TV. All of which they never even dreamed of in their time. This doesn't take away from the underlying thought piece the whole project was though -- even when presented with technology beyond their wildest dreams, these time-travellers still preferred their respective eras and the familiarity that "home" to them represented. It made me think about how I would react if I was suddenly transported to far into the future, where things I only see in movies could be the norm. I think I'd feel the same way, even if it's packaged as a "blessing" to be brought into a new technological day and age.

All the twists in the end also had me reeling, so much so that I stayed up until the wee hours of the night just to know how it all went down. My heart was overjoyed, broken, then pieced back together again all in the span of the few hundred pages of this book.

Special shoutout to Maggie, who I'd say was the strongest character in this book. I would have loved to be her friend!

Really intriguing premise, loved the character voices, and watching the expats navigate modern life. Engaging, will recommend for sure!

A fantastic read. Time travel, history, spies, and action adventure. I really enjoyed this book and I hope the author will write more novels. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

3.9⭐️

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for this eARC.

I love time travel stories, and the description of this one immediately sucked me in.

The slow burn was great, the twists were well done, and the writing style was top notch - the subtle humour throughout was one of my favourite things about it. It was also a really easy read and it kept me wanting more right til the end.

Thanks kindly to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a lovely read, but it just wasn’t for me. Kalaine Bradley’s debut novel is a mystery time travel romance, and sees a civil servant living with, assisting and monitoring Commander Graham Gore who has been transported from 1847 to the near future as part of a mysterious government time travel project.

My review is more a reflection of mismanaged expectations. It’s billed as a time travel romance, spy thriller, and workplace comedy. And for me it falls short on all three.

Yes true, it is a time travel romance indeed. But it’s an incredibly slow burn. The central romantic relationship drives the plot forward but their courtship is not consistently front and centre. My heart was not moved. There were no real feels.

Spy thriller seems like an overstretch. The depiction of a shady government ministry, secrets galore and assassinations felt a little cookie cutter. At one point a character tells another they’re in danger, literally - the writing isn’t subtle.

Workplace comedy feels like more a matter of personal taste. I wasn’t sure which bits of the novel were meant to be humorous.

In saying all that, I was impressed by the commentary around migration policy, reflections on the protagonist’s Cambodian heritage (a nod to the author’s own), and that the character Commander Graham Gore was inspired by his namesake, a genuine arctic explorer of that time.

Overall this would suit readers after a pleasant, accessible science fiction romance.

The Ministry of Time was a captivating tale from start to finish. From the first chapter I was caught up in the characters and action. With time travel stories there is often the urge to "assess" the science, pulling one out of the story, but that never happened to me here as the writing was so good I never paused to question anything. This is a book I would say is actually more character driven that plot driven. Even so, there were a few twists in the story along the way to keep you guessing and to hold one's interest. I thought the slow-burn start to the romance worked well and felt believable, and I found the ending satisfying. I would definitely read more from this author in the future and I am giving this book five stars.