Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

A BARACK OBAMA READING PICK

‘A sparkling delight’ Observer

‘Make room on your bookshelves for a new classic’ Max Porter

‘Crack this book open and you’ll see how time can disappear’ Financial Times

‘A wonderful debut’ David Nicholls

A civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering ‘expats’ from across history to test whether time-travel is feasible. Her role is to work as a ‘bridge’: living with, supporting and monitoring expat ‘1847’ – Commander Graham Gore, a former Victorian polar explorer. Gore, an adventurer by trade, soon adjusts to this bizarre new world of washing machines, feminism and Spotify; and during a long, sultry summer the pair move from awkwardness to 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 histories that have shaped them? And how do you defy that history when it is living in your house?

The instant bestseller, loved by critics and readers around the world: the biggest debut of 2024, now in a new paperback edition.

About the Author: 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.

01 Apr 2025
 

The Ministry of Time: The Instant Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller by Kaliane Bradley ISBN 9781399726368