The ministry of time

Categories:

18.99

A 2024 literary highlight in the Sunday Times, BBC, Grazia, Dazed, Sunday Express, GQ, i-D, Stylist, Bookseller and Literary Friction

‘Outrageously brilliant’ ELEANOR CATTON
‘Make room on your bookshelves for a new classic’ MAX PORTER
‘Thought-provoking and horribly clever’ ALICE WINN
‘Funny, moving, original, intelligent, beautifully written’ NATHAN FILER
‘Electric, charming, whimsical and strange’ EMILY HENRY
‘Within the first couple of pages I was gripped’ KATE MOSSE

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?

ISBN: 9781399726351

In stock

In the near future, a disaffected civil servant is offered a job in a 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, they are forced to confront their past choices and imagined futures.

Additional information

Weight0.452 kg
Dimensions23 × 15.2 × 2.8 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

368

Language

English

Edition

Export ed

Dewey

823.92 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

Gift Vouchers

Can’t find the right book, why not give a gift card and let them find that special book.

Learn More >

Click and Collect/Special Requests

If we don’t have the book you want, we will do our best to order it for you and often have it in a few days.

Learn More >

Receive the latest news

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Get notified about new articles

Find the right book...