Read With Us: It's a New Book!

Today is the day we announce a new Read With Us book for summer! You might already be aware of this if you were able to attend the last Zoom discussion for How to Say Babylon, but now everyone will know. This one doesn't fit neatly into one genre; the publisher describes it as 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 by Kaliane Bradley.

From the publisher: "In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts. Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves."

Kym, Carole, and I will be talking about the book, giving additional information, and doing promotional posts throughout July. Discussion day for The Ministry of Time is scheduled for Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 7:00 pm Eastern time, so mark your calendars. We'll ask questions on our blogs that day and then host the always fun, educational, and entertaining Zoom discussion.

The hardcover, Kindle, and audio versions of the book are all available from my library with a bit of a wait. Hopefully, we'll all have plenty of time to place a hold, get the book, and read it.  The Kindle and hardcover versions are priced reasonably on Amazon and I'm sure your local bookseller could order a copy for you if you're lucky enough to have a local bookseller. I'm in the process of listening to the audio version and reading it on my Kindle, and that dual approach is working well for me. 

I do hope you'll read The Ministry of Time with us. I can't resist a genre-defying book with an intriguing cover and an original premise. A book that's a lot of fun and intriguing seems appropriate to read during the summer. 

Come Read With Us!