Current:Home > FinanceBook excerpt: "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley -WealthEdge Academy
Book excerpt: "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley
View
Date:2025-04-18 19:09:35
We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article.
A delightful mix of historical fact and science fiction, Kaliane Bradley's debut novel "The Ministry of Time" (Simon & Schuster) mixes historical fact and science fiction in the story of a secret British agency that plucks doomed people from the past.
Read an excerpt below.
"The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley
$19 at AmazonPrefer to listen? Audible has a 30-day free trial available right now.
Try Audible for freeThe interviewer said my name, which made my thoughts clip. I don't say my name, not even in my head. She'd said it correctly, which people generally don't.
"I'm Adela," she said. She had an eye patch and blond hair the same color and texture as hay.
"I'm the Vice Secretary."
"Of ...?"
"Have a seat."
This was my sixth round of interviews. The job I was interviewing for was an internal posting. It had been marked SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED because it was gauche to use the TOP SECRET stamps on paperwork with salary bands. I'd never been cleared to this security level, hence why no one would tell me what the job was. As it paid almost triple my current salary, I was happy to taste ignorance. I'd had to produce squeaky-clean grades in first aid, Safeguarding Vulnerable People, and the Home Office's Life in the UK test to get this far. I knew that I would be working closely with refugees of high-interest status and particular needs, but I didn't know from whence they were fleeing. I'd assumed politically important defectors from Russia or China.
Adela, Vice Secretary of God knows what, tucked a blond strand behind her ear with an audible crunch.
"Your mother was a refugee, wasn't she?" she said, which is a demented way to begin a job interview.
"Yes, ma'am." "Cambodia," she said. "Yes, ma'am."
I'd been asked this question a couple of times over the course of the interview process. Usually, people asked it with an upward lilt, expecting me to correct them, because no one's from Cambodia. You don't look Cambodian, one early clown had said to me, then glowed like a pilot light because the interview was being recorded for staff monitoring and training purposes. He'd get a warning for that one. People say this to me a lot, and what they mean is: you look like one of the late-entering forms of white—Spanish maybe—and also like you're not dragging a genocide around, which is good because that sort of thing makes people uncomfortable.
There was no genocide-adjacent follow-up: Any family still there [understanding moue]? Do you ever visit [sympathetic smile]? Beautiful country [darkening with tears]; when I visited [visible on lower lid] they were so friendly. ...
Adela just nodded. I wondered if she'd go for the rare fourth option and pronounce the country dirty.
"She would never refer to herself as a refugee, or even a former refugee," I added. "It's been quite weird to hear people say that."
"The people you will be working with are also unlikely to use the term. We prefer 'expat.' In answer to your question, I'm the Vice Secretary of Expatriation."
"And they are expats from ...?"
"History."
"Sorry?"
Adela shrugged. "We have time-travel," she said, like someone describing the coffee machine. "Welcome to the Ministry."
From "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley. Copyright © 2024 by Kaliane Bradley. Excerpted with permission by Simon & Schuster, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Get the book here:
"The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley
$19 at Amazon $29 at Barnes & NobleBuy locally from Bookshop.org
For more info:
- "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley (Simon & Schuster), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats
veryGood! (89757)
Related
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- 4 men killed in shooting at neighborhood car wash in Birmingham, Alabama
- Loay Elbasyouni gave up hope many times that his parents would escape Gaza City. Here's how he saved them.
- Taylor Swift posts video of Travis Kelce and her parents accidentally going clubbing after 2024 Super Bowl
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling Reunite at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards
- See The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Cast Shut Down the Red Carpet With Fashionable Reunion
- Long after tragic mysteries are solved, families of Native American victims are kept in the dark
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- 2 officers, 1 first responder shot and killed at the scene of a domestic call in Minnesota
Ranking
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- Prince William Attends 2024 BAFTA Film Awards Solo Amid Kate Middleton's Recovery
- Louisiana’s crime-focused special legislative session begins
- Cómo migrantes ofrecen apoyo a la población que envejece en Arizona
- $73.5M beach replenishment project starts in January at Jersey Shore
- NBA All-Star Game again sees tons of points, lack of defense despite call for better competition
- 2 police officers, paramedic die in Burnsville, Minnesota, shooting: Live updates
- $1 million reward offered by Australian police to solve 45-year-old cold case of murdered mom
Recommendation
At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
How to save hundreds of dollars on your credit card payments
American woman goes missing in Spain shortly after man disables cameras
You’ll Choose And Love This Grey’s Anatomy People’s Choice Awards Reunion
Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
‘Oppenheimer’ aims for a record haul as stars shine at the British Academy Film Awards
See Samantha Hanratty and More Stars Pose Backstage at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards
Inside the arrest of Nevada public official Robert Telles