An unnamed civil servant wrestling with her heritage is employed as a "bridge" to help Cdr. Graham Gore (of the HMS Terror and Erebus expedition of 1847) to adjust to a near-future in which the UK Government has access to a time-travel device.

A combination of spy thriller, science fiction, and romance, the focus is on the tensions between Gore and his bridge, his memories of the last days of the expedition on King William Island and his adjustment to life in the 21st century.

The intentions and motivations of the Ministry of Time are obscure and potentially nefarious. Seven "expats" have been brought through from different periods and all adjust differently. It is gradually revealed that they are embroiled in a battle over the course of the future, not attempting to change the past, and that nothing is precisely what it seems.

Anyone who has an interest in time-travel, but is also happy for it to have a heavy, slow-burn romantic element. I suspect that if you come at it because you have a fascination with the fate of the HMS Terror and Erebus you'll likely be disappointed. This is much more about the tensions between traditional British society, what it takes for second generation immigrants to survive, and what happens when you fall in love with entirely the wrong person.

Kaliane Bradley has such a facility for language and is a deeply evocative writer of London as a place. She also conveys very effectively the complexity of the bridge's life and the desire for people to "fit in" and "follow orders" even when it goes against their deeper ethics. Although it's impossible to know, she developed what felt like an accurate portrayal of Gore, based on what little we know of him and his life, and dealt with his adjustment to the future and his grief over his past with incredible sensitivity.

The end felt somewhat skipped at one point (no spoilers), which is often the problem with novels where the protagonist tends toward depression as a means of dealing with life. However, it wasn't enough to stop me reading and it doesn't last for long.

I've been struggling to read and remain focused on books for a while, and I've been avoiding this book specifically because it's been pretty much everywhere for the last six months. But my book club chose it and so I read it.

I loved it. I am aware of the fate of the HMS Terror and Erebus, have seen The Terror and read some of Dan Simmons' version of events. When the book began at this point, I assumed that this would feature the Terror much more than it eventually did. We do see snippets of life on the Erebus after the death of Franklin, but knowing anything about the Terror and what happened to it is largely immaterial. You may find it makes you want to find out more—the ships themselves have been recently re-discovered, but the whole story is a complex, nuanced combination of tragedies of characteristic British hubris.

The story takes the perspective of the "bridge", who is never named. A young civil servant who failed her field exams and wrestles constantly with her heritage as a Cambodian–British citizen in a society that has very little space for nuance, she is a fascinating and deeply sympathetic character. She portrays the model of "fitting in", rather than "rebelling against", the system that her younger sister prefers. It is a great insight into the difficulties of finding your place in the world—and then falling in love with somebody who embodies all that has caused you harm.

The romantic element never comes across as trite, and I say that as somebody who typically doesn't like or read romance at all. Much of the tension surrounds the bridge's relationship with others, with details of the other "expats", who are beautifully characterised and who all adjust to their new circumstances idiosyncratically and with no shortage of humour.

Eventually, I had to put everything else aside and just read the book to the end, which I haven't been able to do in a while. Kaliane Bradley has a real facility for language and observation, both of landscape and of people. It makes for a glorious combination. I will note that this is not for under eighteens, as there are some graphic (if poetic) sex scenes and nudity. Otherwise, I highly recommend this. Read and enjoy.

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Created Jan 13, 2025 at 4:11pm • Submit your own review...