The Ministry Of Time
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.
In the near future, a disaffected civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering 'expats' from across history to test the limits of time-travel.
Her role is to work as a 'bridge': living with, assisting and monitoring the expat known as '1847' - Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to find himself alive and surrounded by outlandish concepts such as 'washing machine', 'Spotify' and 'the collapse of the British Empire'. With an appetite for discovery and a seven-a-day cigarette habit, he soon adjusts; and during a long, sultry summer he and his bridge move from awkwardness to genuine 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 structures and histories that have shaped them? And how do you defy history when history is living in your house?
BEST DEALS
About the Author
I am a writer and editor based in London. I've written short stories and essays, which have appeared in places like Catapult, Electric Literature, The Tangerine and Extra Teeth, among others. I 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 my debut novel.
I started writing The Ministry of Time after getting very invested in historical polar exploration, especially the 1845 Franklin Expedition and one of the officers on it, Graham Gore. The book grew out of a sort of literary parlour game I was writing for my friends: what would it be like if your favourite polar explorer lived in your house? It turns out that living with a Victorian man would probably force you to confront the legacy of British imperialism, the state of 21st century Britain - from climate crisis to Deliveroo - and the effect of the sexual revolution on flirting with a disorientated naval officer. It also forced me to confront, as a writer, the governmental apparatus that got this poor man into the 21st century in the first place... the course of sinister government project never did run smooth...