Ministry of Time Book Review by Kalyan Bradley – A time-travelling, thematic love story | Audio books

TThe Ministry of Time opens in the middle of a job interview. The applicant, an unidentified Cambodian-British civil servant, is a candidate for a position that involves working with expatriates with “high profile and special needs”. When she asks where these expatriates come from, she is told: “History.” “We have time travel,” the interviewer adds casually.

Listeners interested in the practicalities of this time-traveling tale will be reassured by the protagonist’s observation that contemplating physics leads to a “trap of nonsense,” so it’s best not to dwell on it. “All you need to know is that in the near future, the British government has developed the means of time travel, but has not yet attempted to do so.” Its function, then, is to act as an accompaniment or “bridge” for individuals who have emerged from their era and regressed into the present.

Kalyan Bradley’s debut novel combines science fiction and romance as it grapples with the climate crisis, colonialism, and forced migration, revealing the strangeness of our world as seen from the past. It does all of this without feeling overly busy or heavy. The narrator is actor Katie Leung, who strikes a clever balance between comedy and seriousness. She is joined by George Whitman, who reads the chapters from the perspective of Commander Graham Gore, a real-life naval officer and polar explorer who disappeared during the Franklin Expedition of 1845-1848. Here, Gore is thrust into the brave new world of modern plumbing and internet streaming, where the white British man no longer rules the waves.

Available via Scepter, 10h 23m

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