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The Ministry of Time

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The Ministry of Time

By: Kaliane Bradley
Narrated by: George Weightman, Katie Leung
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About this listen

The Time Traveller's Wife meets David Mitchell meets Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow meets Kate & Leopold in this debut novel from an award-winning writer.

There are several ways to tell a story.

A boy meets a girl. The past meets the future. A finger meets a trigger. The beginning meets the end. England is forever; England must fall.

A civil servant starts working as a 'bridge' - a liaison, helpmeet and housemate - in an experimental project that brings expatriates from the past into the twenty-first century. This is a science-fiction story.

In a London safehouse in the 2020s, a disorientated Victorian polar explorer chain smokes while listening to Spotify and learning about political correctness. This is a comedy.

During a long, sultry summer - as the shadows around them grow long and dangerous - two people fall in love, against all odds. This is a romance.

The Ministry of Time is a novel about Commander Graham Gore (R.N. c.1809-c.1847) and a woman known only as the bridge. As their relationship turns from the strictly professional into something more and uneasy truths begin to emerge, they are forced to face the reality of the project that brought them together.

Can love triumph over the structures and histories that shape them?

©2024 Kaliane Bradley (P)2024 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Literary Fiction Romance Time Travel England
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Critic reviews

A delightfully audacious screwball comedy (Katie Goh, Fiction to be excited for in 2024)
Within the first couple of pages I was gripped. The novel is clever, witty and thought-provoking, asking the question of what any of us might do if we could engage live with people from the past. Kaliane Bradley is a wonderful writer and I can't wait to read what she does next (Kate Mosse, bestselling author of THE GHOST SHIP)
Holy smokes this novel is an absolute cut above! Kaliane Bradley leaps into a storytelling league of her own. This book is a deadly serious speculative fiction but it is also one of the funniest books I've read in years. It is exciting, surprising, intellectually provocative, weird, radical, tender and moving. I missed it when I was away from it. I will hurry to re-read it. Make room on your bookshelves for a new classic. (Max Porter, bestselling author of SHY)
Smart and affecting, full of ideas plus that slow-burning love story, it's a wonderful debut (David Nicholls, author of YOU ARE HERE)
An outrageously brilliant debut with a premise that just gets more and more original. The Ministry of Time pulls off the neatest trick of speculative fiction, first estranging us from our own era, and then facilitating our immigration back into the present; but it is also a love story, exploratory, sensitive, charged with possibility, and powered by desire, reminding us that history is synonymous with human beings, and that we all have the ability to change it. This is already the best new book I will have read next year (Eleanor Catton, author of BIRNAM WOOD)

What listeners say about The Ministry of Time

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    5 out of 5 stars

Terrific

Brilliantly read. Funny, clever and thought-provoking. Was totally gripped. Possibly my favourite book of 2024.

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interesting view of the future

This made you think of how the future and present time overlap, or could occur. This depends on how you imagine it.provoked by the book. Very interesting and well presented.

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  • Overall
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Speculative and historical and gorgeous

I was very lucky to have stumbled onto this book only a few days after it came out. This is the kind of book I'm always looking for but never really find. I don't much like romances because they're usually too soppy and unrealistic. But I still look for books with romance in them because romance is one of the things that, as a part of life, makes it worth living. This book has that kind of romance in it.

I love time travel, but I'm often disappointed by the formulaic nature of time travel novels. This book is not like that.

Another way novels often disappoint me is when they or their writers don't care how terrible they make a reader feel, and in fact seem to strive for that - making readers feel terrible, I mean. This book treads difficult and dangerous waters and conversations and situations, but never made me feel like I had to put it down because reading it was getting too depressing.

Kaliane Bradley made me fall in love with a historical figure whom I'd never heard of, who is apparently only a tiny footnote in the history books. She also reminded me that hope is not stupid. It is everything there is. A motivating force for good. We need that in the world right now.

The saddest thing about this book is that I fear I will never find another one that I adore as much. Of course, I hope that's not true!

Thank you, Ms. Bradley. What a splendid story. I hope you'll soon write more novels for me to devour in next to no time.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting take on past and future

This is an original time travel story with rich character development and an interesting plot. There’s a nice element of humour peppered through the novel which helps keep one entertained. I think the story is a little dragged out and I found myself wanting to fast forward to the end. Overall, an enjoyable listen.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Doesn’t live up to the hype.

This is a rather good time travel yarn that is spoilt by the insipid love story. Most of the interesting stuff happens near the end of the novel and the growing love between the two main characters is rather tediously described and feels unearned.

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Impressive debut

I was lucky to have read Michael Palin's Erebus just before I read this (a fluke). It certainly helped but is definitely not necessary.

It's very well written and paints its characters in an effortless fashion. I found the first three quarters interesting enough to keep me engaged but was waiting for something to happen. It does ... in spades. I'm annoyed I didn't spot one of the big plot twists, after all, the author leaves us a few clues. The ending is perfect, lets the reader imagine...

An enjoyable first novel.

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Fantastic!

I was wondering which way this story would go but it was fabulous! Thought provoking, interesting and just a great story! Loved it!

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Fabulous

A really good, well paced story. Not so much about time travel but more relationships. Took me a while to warm to the the reader but her performance was great. Definitely worth a read 👍🏻

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  • Overall
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Couldn't stop listening!

This is a truly wonderful story. Original and captivating, I didn't see the twist coming!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Okay

Good performance. Story was a bit cliche. I could guess the ending very early on. Started off interesting, went a bit Bridgington, then full on action/spy, then Bridgette Jones.

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