Our narrator (whose name we never learn) is applying for a top-secret role in the Ministry of Defence in London, where she has previously been working as a translator. So secret that she can't be told exactly what the role is until she is successful: ‘Your mother was a refugee, wasn’t she?’ she said, which is a demented way to begin a job interview... ‘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.’ In order to avoid accidentally changing the past by removing people who still have a part to play, what the Ministry has done is to collect a number of people from the past who were about to die very imminently, soldiers from the English Civil War and the First World War, a woman from the time of the Great Plague, and in particular, Commander Graham Gore, a member of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition, who all died in the Arctic at some time around 1847. The narrator is assigned to Commander Gore as a 'bridge', someone to help the ex-pats come to terms with the twenty-first century. But as her year long assignment continues, the narrator finds herself gradually falling in love ... This book had rave reviews, and I was expecting great things from it. And it did start well, but the romance element didn't quite ring true and it went downhill rapidly in the final third. I found the ending deeply unsatisfactory. I really don't understand all the hype. (read less)

Our narrator (whose name we never learn) is applying for a top-secret role in the Ministry of Defence in London, where she has previously been working as a translator. So secret that she can't be told exactly what the role is until she is successful: ‘Your mother was a refugee, wasn’t she?’ she said, which is a demented way to begin a job interview... ‘She would never refer to herself (read more)

This one fell a little flat for me, after a promising start. I think maybe the author was trying to do a bit too much with it, so it didn't hang together very well. Bradley can definitely write, though, and I'd be interested to see what she produces next.