Book cover of The Ministry of Time

Book description

A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the…

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Why read it?

13 authors picked The Ministry of Time as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I bought this book as I was intrigued by the author’s account of where the idea had come from. It’s not often a writer says they were inspired by a tv show! As I suspect she did, I fell in love with Graham Gore (one of the main characters) and how he adjusted to being dislocated in time. The plot was terrific, but it was the funny, touching, sexy relationships between the characters that I loved most. This was my second reading of Ministry of Time and it won’t be my last!

Combining three of my favorite topics: time travel, the British civil service and the Franklin expedition in an unlikely, highly original story, The Ministry of Time is a compelling and enjoyable read.

This is the rare book that I recommended to both my husband and mother...who read totally different kinds of books! In essence, this is a book about characters ripped out of the past, learning the present, and the character-building plus slow-burn romance were my favorite parts. But there's also a very thought-provoking social commentary side plus a dollop of Arctic exploration. It's the kind of book that benefits from multiple reads and is delicious enough to make that sound like fun.

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Book cover of TimeBlink

TimeBlink by MJ Mumford,

When Syd Brixton was eleven years old, her identical twin vanished from a park and was never found. 

Now twenty years later, Syd’s favorite customer, Morley, is killed in a horrific accident outside the pub where Syd works. Moments before Morley dies, he gives Syd an extraordinary gift: the power…

This book really grew on me. Yes, it was frustrating at times for various reasons, but it was also very smart, beautifully written, with a cool premise, and sympathetic characters that really stay with you. The true test of a good novel, for me, is if I finish it with a certain sense of wistfulness, a lingering emotional aftertaste, and with this one that was definitely the case for me. I can see why it's been so popular, and I look forward to reading the next one from the brilliant Ms Bradley!

I adored this book. I fell in love with the male main character, Commander Graham Gore, a Victorian explorer brought into a near-future London via a time travel machine. The author deftly handles how Graham might experience the modern world. His relationship with the narrator is complex and fascinating, and gets very sexy!

Bradley explores themes of colonialism, climate change, and identity within a thrilling time travel plot and swoony romance. I think her style of sci-fi romance—exploring big ideas within interesting, exciting stories with characters you root for—could be the next big thing in publishing. I can’t wait to…

I'm a sucker for a time travel story but they often follow a similar path. This is a fresh take. Even though our heroine would love to go home, she's immersed in her new life and doing important work. The fish-out-of-water aspect is far from the same old, and the writing is wonderful and immersive. This was my favorite book of 2024.

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Book cover of Eternal Beloved

Eternal Beloved by Mary Ellen Johnson,

Bel Lucy might be the wildly successful owner of Bella Publishing, specializing in romances, steamy and sweet, but she doesn’t believe in love. Bel certainly doesn’t believe in love after a wrong turn in the haunted Castle by the Sea lands her in fourteenth-century Ireland, where she is forced to…

The prose is innovative and full of writerly joy, every metaphor humming with her obvious love and mastery of her craft. It’s a monster feat of storytelling that never feels overwritten or overwrought, and I actually cried at the end, which is a thing I do not do.

A truly unique, cross-genre book featuring an unconventional, unforgettable romance

The Ministry of Time is an entity whose job it is to help "expats", that is people who have time-traveled from different times to the present, adjust to the modern world. The Ministry is hoping to find out if time travel is safe for both the body and the mind, and these expats they have stolen out of their own times are the guinea pigs for their research. But the Ministry is not the only group using the technology, and the expats may be in more danger than they think. I fell in love with the characters, especially the expats,…

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Book cover of The Happiness Collector

The Happiness Collector by Crystal King,

In this contemporary fantasy for fans of V. E. Schwab and Kaliane Bradley, historian Aida Reale lands a dream job in Italy—only to discover her employers aren’t exactly human.

After losing her book deal and academic post, Aida is desperate. A high-paying position at a mysterious company called MODA seems…

Every once in a while, you come across a novel that is so wildly original and fascinating in its concept that you can't stop talking about it with people. I found myself recommending The Ministry of Time to just about everyone who loves time-travel stories and thought-provoking fiction! The characters compelled me. The themes were intriguing throughout. The very premise had me excited before I even began reading...and it held my interest until the end. LOVED this book!

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Book cover of TimeBlink

TimeBlink by MJ Mumford,

When Syd Brixton was eleven years old, her identical twin vanished from a park and was never found. 

Now twenty years later, Syd’s favorite customer, Morley, is killed in a horrific accident outside the pub where Syd works. Moments before Morley dies, he gives Syd an extraordinary gift: the power…

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