The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Right in my wheelhouse, The Ministry of Time is set in the near future, when a civil servant becomes involved in a government project studying the impact of time travel on "expats" pulled from different historical periods. Each expat is paired with a bridge from the ministry who acts as their liaison, caregiver, observer, and protector. They are closely monitored to evaluate their assimilation into modern society and ensure their safety.
Our narrator’s expat is the one real-life historical figure to make the trip; the others are Bradley’s invention. Lieutenant Graham Gore (1809 – 1847) was an English Royal Navy officer and polar explorer aboard the Erebus during the ill-fated Franklin expedition, which sought the Northwest Passage. The journey ended tragically with the loss of all 129 crew members under mysterious circumstances.
Instead, Bradley’s fictional Gore arrives via sanctioned kidnapping for the time-travel experiment. He joins fellow expats from various historical periods (ranging from 1665 through 1916), who affectionately nickname each other based on their year of origin. Together, they form a rag-tag group of misfits, but Bradley maintains control over excessive silliness, allowing the endearing camaraderie of the group to shine through.
Bright and witty fluidity dominates this book in the way Bradley wields the voice of the unnamed narrator, with a smart, humorous, and tightly controlled narrative. I laughed out loud at times and moved to tears at others. I’d love to love this one more, and I did until around the 80% mark, when the plot came in like a hurricane to disrupt the more meditative and cerebral narrative up to that point. The very end was a return to the more pensive aspects, but the threat was real and it went a little too Scooby-Doo-ish zany for a beat too long. However, if there’s a sequel, I will absolutely pick it up.
This book is an advance reader's copy, passed along to me from a friend who had a spare from the pubisher. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
