"The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley (re-read)

I was tickled when my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club co-host read "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley -- one of my favourite books from last year -- and agreed with me that it would be a great choice for the group!  It's our June book (and I hope our fellow members agree with us!).  I recently re-read it in preparation for our discussions. 

I've always loved time travel themes in books and other media, and this is a quirky mixture of genres and themes that include (yes) time travel but also romance, science fiction, history (Canadian history, at that!), social commentary and ethical dilemmas, as well as a healthy dose of comedy/humour.   

The young female narrator -- known to us only as "the bridge" -- is a civil servant who gets promoted to work on a top-secret project involving a mysterious "door" that makes time travel possible. Using the door, the Ministry of Time has extracted a small group of "expats" -- people from various eras across British history, who were on the verge of an untimely death -- and brought them into present day to observe. As a "bridge," our narrator serves as an observer as well as a live-in guide/interpreter to life in modern-day London for one of the expats -- Commander Graham Gore (a real-life person!), who died (in one version of history, anyway...!) in 1847 in the Arctic while serving on the doomed Franklin Expedition. 

Despite their vastly different backgrounds, it's no surprise when this odd couple eventually falls in love.  Midway through the book, however, the book shifts into thriller territory, and the tone becomes increasingly tense. Plot twist follows plot twist follows plot twist. The ending is slightly ambiguous, which I don't mind, but I know drives some people nuts.  ;)  

It might also irk some readers that (as I noted in my original review), "there's a lot about the whole time travel project, its purpose and its goals, and how time travel actually works, that's rather vague -- we just have to accept what we're told and go with the flow of the story --  especially in the final chapters."  T

Nevertheless, despite its flaws, I enjoyed this book immensely, as much the second time around as the first. My original review from last October rated it 4.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded up to 5 on Goodreads, and I'm keeping those ratings this time around too. 

The BBC is working on a six-part adaptation, written by Alice Birch, who also adapted Sally Rooney's novel "Normal People" (another favourite of mine -- both book and TV adaptation). Filming is scheduled to begin later this year, and I will look forward to watching it someday!  

This was Book #10 read to date in 2026 (and Book #2 finished in May), bringing me to 25% of  my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."