If you’ve been following along with my reading journey, you’ve probably noticed that I read light romantic comedies or contemporary young adult stories more than anything. And yet, when I read the synopsis for The Ministry of Time, I was drawn in. Though I knew I should expect something outside of the box for me these days, I was ready to be taken on a time-travel journey in the not-so-distant future.

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 machine,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But he adjusts quickly; he is, after all, an explorer by trade. Soon, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a seriously uncomfortable housemate dynamic, evolves into something much more. Over the course of an unprecedented year, Gore and the bridge fall haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences they never could have imagined.

Supported by a chaotic and charming cast of characters—including a 17th-century cinephile who can’t get enough of Tinder, a painfully shy World War I captain, and a former spy with an ever-changing series of cosmetic surgery alterations and a belligerent attitude to HR—the bridge will be forced to confront the past that shaped her choices, and the choices that will shape the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks the universal What happens if you put a disaffected millennial and a Victorian polar explorer in a house together?

I am so glad I decided to read something outside of my comfort zone—because this was fabulous. Was it a bit slow in parts? Sure, but there is a definite pay-off at the end that made it all worth it. It feels a bit like Outlander (though nowhere near as sexy) with a bit of what I think Doctor Who would be (I haven’t seen more than one episode, so this could be a terrible comparison). One thing I will note is that we never find out the main character’s name. If that’s going to bother you, proceed with caution (but please don’t let it stop you!).

What didn’t work for me

Chapter lengths: This book only has 10 chapters, and though there are lots of places to stop, I did find it a little bit frustrating as a reader that the sections were overly long. That’s why it took me a long time to get into it, I think. (See next point.)

Slow start: Again, just grasping at straws because no book is perfect, but it did take me a long time to get into it. I was expecting the book to be a bit…funnier. Don’t get me wrong, this book has its funny moments. But if I’m looking to nitpick about this story, I would have loved for there to be a bit more humourous about the expats living in the modern day—especially with the roommate dynamics. Based on the synopsis, I was just expecting a slightly different tone than what we got, but it wasn’t a bad thing. That being said, about halfway through, I was completely hooked.

What I liked

The history: I love that Graham Gore was a real person. Though there are some fictionalized bits, there are lots of parts of this story that are rooted in the experiences we know he (and his team) had exploring the Arctic. And his other companions like Arthur and Maggie, though not real people, were rooted in history—you knew who they were and could imagine them perfectly. It made this farfetched story seem more plausible.

The writing: Bradley has a way with words that I haven’t seen in a long time. There are phrases and moments (like the one I highlight below) throughout the whole book that are just so tender and thoughtful and really make you feel something. She’s not a flowery writer or one that hits you in the head with details, but the way she strings the words together is almost like magic. It’s quite beautiful.

The ending: I’m definitely not giving anything away, but I did not predict where the story went. It took me on a journey, and I loved every second of it.

5 STARS

“There was no way that anyone could feel like much without also knowing they were going to lose it.” —Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an advanced book copy in exchange for my honest review.