Kaliane Bradley: The Ministry of Time
In the near future, a female civil servant with a mixed ancestry is offered a job in new mysterious goverment ministry. She works as a „bridge“, to help an expat from 1847, Commander Graham Gore. Officially, Commander Gore died during an expediton to the Artic. Inoffically, he has been plucked from the timeline through a door into the past, that the government has got their hands on.
At first, I thought it‘d be a timetravel story. However it‘s different. There‘s not just one expat, there are others from other times: Arthur, a man from 1916 who was in the war at the Somme, Margret, a woman from 1665 during the bubonic plague in London and Thomas, a man from 1665.
The story is told from first-person point-of-view and the woman who tells the story is never mentioned by her real name. We learn however, that her mother is from Cambodia and immigrated to England.
I liked that the author drew Margret as not caring about gender and that Arthur had a friend who was killed during the war and whose ring he was wearing.
At first I was a bit irritated about the love story between the narrator and Commander Gore but it perfectly makes sense in the context of the book. I actually liked how she teaches him what she likes.
But the book isn‘t just a timetravellers love story, it‘s actually a conspiracy story, where lots of shooting and killing happens and other people want the door for themselves. They are from the 25th century, where London is flooded and the world is at war.
The book caught me with the timetravel bit, however, despite not having much of except for the characters, I liked it and would recommend it anyone who likes action mixed with romance.