The Ministry of Time (novel)
A debut novel about time travel, romance, and espionage.
Last updated
The novel follows a British civil servant who works as a "bridge" helping time-traveling "expats" resettle in 21st-century London.[1][2] Kaliane Bradley's first published book, released in 2024, was The Ministry of Time, with Hodder & Stoughton as its original publisher.[3]
Making and release
Bradley wrote a chapter a week for online friends simply to entertain them.[4] Her "serious" work was a more traditionally literary novel about the Khmer Rouge and the British-Cambodian experience.[4] The novel was released on May 7, 2024, according to Kirkus Reviews.[1] In February 2024, the BBC announced it had commissioned a six-part drama based on the novel from Alice Birch.[5][6]
Katie Leung provides the voice for the audiobook, while George Weightman reads the sections belonging to Commander Graham Gore.[7]
What the cited sources add
An Elle profile describes Bradley as a 35-year-old British-Cambodian author and an editor at Penguin Press in the U.K.[4] Bradley first fell down her polar expedition rabbit hole during the pandemic while watching The Terror.[4] The novel is much more an indictment of colonial empire than a sweet escapist romance, according to the Elle profile.[4] A Kirkus Reviews description calls the novel a "rip-roaring romp" and a "time-toying spy romance that’s truly a thriller."[1]
Radio New Zealand described the novel as a genre-bending mix of science fiction tackling colonisation, climate change and migration.[2] The BBC press release states the series will be distributed internationally by A24.[6]
References
- "THE MINISTRY OF TIME", Kirkus Reviews. facts only, no text reused. kirkusreviews.com
- "Debut success - The Ministry of Time", Radio New Zealand, 29 March 2025. facts only, no text reused. rnz.co.nz
- Wikipedia, "The Ministry of Time (novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "THE MINISTRY OF TIME", Kirkus Reviews (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- PUCKETT-POPE, "Kaliane Bradley Fell in Love With a Dead Man. The Result Is The Ministry of Time.", Elle. facts only, no text reused. elle.com
- Wikipedia, "The Ministry of Time (novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "BBC enters The Ministry of Time, adapted by Alice Birch from Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel", BBC; Griffin, "BBC delivers major update on sci-fi romance adaptation based on beloved best-selling novel", Radio Times, 23 February 2026 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "BBC enters The Ministry of Time, adapted by Alice Birch from Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel", BBC. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "The Ministry of Time (novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sturges, "The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley audiobook review – a topical time-hopping romance", The Guardian, 5 March 2026 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Ministry of Time (novel) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: The Ministry of Time (novel) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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