The Ministry of Time

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley:

A civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering 'expats' from across history to test whether time-travel is feasible.

Her role is to work as a 'bridge': living with, supporting and monitoring expat '1847' - Commander Graham Gore, a former Victorian polar explorer. Gore, an adventurer by trade, soon adjusts to this bizarre new world of washing machines, feminism and Spotify; and during a long, sultry summer the pair move from awkwardness to friendship to something more.

Bradley, Kaliane. (2024). The Ministry of Time. New York: Avid Reader Press.

The Future of Another Timeline

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz is a queer, feminist, punk time travel novel. 

1992 - Beth is at a Riotgrrl concert with her friends when a decision they make creates a new path in the timeline. 

2022 - Beth is part of a group of time travelers who are hoping to make small changes in the past to ensure body autonomy for women in all timelines. 

1892 - In the White City as Chicago's World's Fair is about to open the battle for the future in on. Trends started by Comstock and his followers could take away women's rights for the whole of the future.

Newitz is a science fiction genius. They take stories to places few others would think of. Due to the current political climate in the US this is not an easy book to read right now, but maybe corrections are coming here too.

Newitz, Annalee. (2019). The Future of Another Timeline. New York: Tor.

Sea of Tranquility

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel is a story with a mystery that spans 489 years.

Edwin St. Andrew is a second son in England at the beginning of the 20th century. As he is not going to inherit his father's house and wealth, he is sent to Canada to make a life for himself. In 1912 he has made it across the continent to Vancouver island. Walking in the forest toward a maple tree he experiences disorientation - seeing a terminal with a man playing the violin.

Olive Llewellyn is on a world tour for her pandemic novel as it is about to become a movie. In 2203 while walking through an airship terminal, passing a man playing the violin, she suddenly sees trees in a forest. 

In 2401 in a colony on the moon, Gaspery Roberts is hired by the Time Institute to investigate an anomaly in North America. He will travel back in time to interview four people in different times, all connected to an airship terminal in Oklahoma City.

Mandel has created a compelling puzzle of a story. This is a fun book. Read it now!

Mandel, Emily St. John. (2022). Sea of Tranquility. New York: Alfred A Knopf. 

Recursion

Recursion by Blake Crouch has been described as a science fiction puzzle box. 

Barry Sutton is an NYPD detective. He is currently investigating a False Memory death. Recently some people have been plagued with what feels like real memories of their lives that never happened - years of other lives suddenly in their brains.

Helena Smith is a neuroscientist studying the brain to try and solve Alzheimer's, a disease affecting her mother. She is working on a chair that can save memories that could be re-loaded into people's brains when their originals ones are not accessible. 

But her memory chair does more than that. Using a described memory, a person can be sent back to that moment. But everyone else effected - anyone in the room with you or who you met after that point - goes too. The chair tests our ideas about how time itself works.

Crouch is a great thriller and science writer. His books have been turned into movies and tv shows. This one is very thought provoking. Not since Replay by Ken Grimwood have I read a book that stays in my head for so long. Get this book from you library today!

Crouch, Blake. (2019). Recursion. New York: Crown.

Blackout (Oxford Time Travel #1)

Blackout by Connie Willis is the first of a two book series about historians who travel back in time to learn about their time of study.

In the year 2060, historians can not only study history, but experience it firsthand. Scientists have found a way to travel back in time. Oxford has been sending people back for years now. There are whole departments to make sure that clothing, paperwork and items are period-authentic so historians can blend in. The chaos of the space/time continuum will not allow the historians to alter events, but they still take care to watch their effects on those they meet.

Three historians who are studying WWII in England, are about to go to that time. Merope will be going back as Eileen, a woman in service who will help at a country house to study the child evacuees from the Blitz. Many families sent their children to the country to be clear of the bombs dropped on London.

Polly has already been to the war. She returned from 1945 where she was an ambulance driver. Now she is going to the beginning of the Blitz to see life in the air raid shelters.

Mike is traveling as a newspaper man, from America. He was due to go to Pearl Harbor first, hence the accent implant that means he needs a cover that is American. His drops were re-arranged with little explanation. Now he is on his way to see the evacuation of Dunkirk from the small boats along the English Channel.

Lately in the net, there have been slippages. Historians arriving a few minutes late or a few blocks away. It may be due to the fact that a drop will not open if there are witnesses. But each of these historians experience large slippage. How will that effect them getting back to 2060?

Willis has written an amazing book. It is one of the few WWII accounts that make the reader feel like they understand how people felt. If you are a fan of history or just great writing, read this!

Willis, Connie. (2010). Blackout. New York: Spectra.

The Spanish Pearl

The Spanish Pearl by Catherine Friend is a historical fiction novel in which the main character is somehow transported from modern day Spain to 1085 in the same location.

Kate Vincent and her girlfriend Anna are in Spain to adopt a son. Due to him having a fever they cannot take him from the orphanage yet. So on their free day they have to decided what sites to see.

Anna, a history scholar, wants to see the Palace that is now a museum. But after a quick walk around, Kate wants to see the cave Mirabueno that their soon-to-be son thinks is great. A man at the museum warns Kate that the cave is not safe, but she goes anyway.

During the group tour of the cave, an ankle injury causes Kate to fall behind. She decided to cross the rope barrier to sit on an obvious shelf until the tour returns.

What feels like hours later, she wakes up in a totally dark cave. The lights and guide ropes are gone. When she goes outside, the city of Zaragoza is also missing. Only the Palace remains on the horizon.

Kate is back in the time that her girlfriend studies. The time to El Picador , El Cid and the wars between Moors and Christians for control of Spain. Friend has thrown in a twist that makes this a great read in what could become a terrible situation for any woman, but a lesbian maybe even more. At a painter, Kate has a still that just might keep her from being married off to the first man who asks.

Friend, Catherine. (2007). The Spanish Pearl. NY: Bold Strokes Books.

Steel

Steel by Carrie Vaughn is a brilliant pirate novel.

Jill is sixteen. She lives in Texas. And she loves fencing. She is probably good enough to try out for the next Olympics. But when she loses a match - striking a fraction of a second later than her opponent - she starts to think that she may not be as good as she thought.

A few days after the match, Jill and her family leave for a vacation in the Bahamas. Because she is still focused on her loss, she elects to walk along the beach while her mom and siblings swim. That is when she finds the corroded tip of a sword.

Others might think of the piece of medal as junk, but Jill knows it is from the type of sword that her fencing foil is based on. So she keeps it. Later when her family is on a boat tour of the islands, Jill is knocked overboard.

When she surfaces she is no longer off of the coast of the Bahamas in 2011. She is in the same place, but about three hundred years earlier.

There begins Jill's pirate adventure. While she wants to get back to her own home, she will need to join the pirate crew and do what she can to survive. Vaughn has written a swashbuckling pirate adventure that will be a huge success among readers.

Vaughn, Carrie. (2011). Steel. New York: Harper Teen.

Starcross (Larklight #2)

Starcross is the second book in the Larklight series by Philip Reeve and illustrated by David Wyatt.

Firstly, Philip Reeve is as mad as Jasper Fforde! The each have more imagination than some whole cities.

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Now that Larklight is safe from the menace in the first book, Mrs. Mumbly is having some interior decorating updated. The house is so noisy that when an invitation comes to visit the hotel Starcross, the Mumbly jump at the chance.

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Starcross boasts the finest sea-bathing in the Asteroid Belt. The fact that there are no seas in the Asteroid Belt should be the first clue that something is amiss.

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The Mumblys will be faced with French spies, Yankee rebels, man-eating starfish, and sinister top hats before the book is complete.

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If you need a fun read, read the Larklight series! It is pure awesomeness.

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Reeve, Philip. (2007). Starcross. New York: Bloomsbury.

The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife is an amazing debut novel by Audrey Niffenegger.

Henry DeTamble is a time traveler. He doesn't use a time machine. He doesn't control when he goes. He doesn't even want to go most of the time. He has a rare medical condition that propels him through time when he is nervous. He has had the condition since he was a child.

So what happens when he meets his wife when she is six years old? The story according to Clare (his wife) is told chronologically. From Henry's perspective it is not quite the same chronology.

Part science-fiction and part love story, this is one of the best books I have read. Niffenegger conveys the pain and joy of Henry's travels. The pain of suddenly not knowing when you are. (Did I mention that when you time travel, you arrive naked?) And the joy at getting to watch his wife grow up.

Niffenegger, Audrey. (2004). The time traveler's wife. Fort Washington, PA:Harvest Books.

Replay

What if you could live your life over again? In the book Replay by Ken Grimwood that is exactly what happens to Jeff Winston.

When Jeff is 43 years-old he dies, and wakes up the next morning 18 years-old. He has all of the memories of his life, but he is back in college. It is 1963; yesterday was 1988. Once he realizes what has happened, he has to decide what he will do differently this time around. What knowledge does he posses that will help him lead an easier life this time around? Who won the World Series in 1963, or the Kentucky Derby, which stock is a good investment... Will his previous wife still fall in love with him in this cycle? Can he change the course of history? Should he?

Jeff Winston lives his life again. Changing the things he didn't like about his last time through, erasing regrets he may have had. Then, when he is 43 again, he dies once more only to wake up in college. How many replays will he get? Is he the only one who is in this cycle of re-living his life? Is this cycle a gift or a curse?

What would you do differently?

Grimwood, K. (1998). Replay. New York: Harper Paperbacks.