Simon & Schuster delivers a charming new novel by Kaliane Bradley today, one that is wonderfully funny, heartbreakingly romantic, and all wrapped up in time travel.

Set in England, a young British-Cambodian civil servant is promoted and recruited into a top-secret project and is shocked to discover that time travel is real. A number of personages have been gathered from across history and each of them is assigned a liaison, known as a bridge to help them adapt to life in the 21st century.

She is assigned the company of a man who was to have died in 1847 during Franklin’s doomed expedition to the Arctic, Graham Gore. The pair find themselves sharing a home together, as Gore, and his other ex-pats from across time, attempt to navigate Spotify, technology, changing fashions, and perhaps even a little romance?

In fact, the book plays out very romantically as our narrator begins to fall for her charge, but can a relationship between a 21st-century woman and a 19th-century man work? How do they even connect?

Woven through the tale, happening in the background for most of the story, but there to be noticed, is something more, there is trouble coming, and is there a more insidious reason for the ex-pats being brought into our present?

There is a lot of fun to be had as the characters from different times interact with one another, and we discover how they see our world. There are one or two sci-fi moments that aren’t really a surprise to anyone who knows the time travel genre and its tropes, but Bradley tells an engaging tale that takes you into the heart of a wonderful little love story, that is steeped in humour, and a couple of action beats as it races to its pitch-perfect ending.

The story also serves to comment on several things about our modern life that we see as important but may be little more than distractions from the real things that are important, like connecting with others and opening yourself to possibilities. Bradley keeps the story rolling with wonderful moments that elicit smiles and joyfully tweaks the heart.

I came for the sci-fi angle and got swept up in the quirky and romantic aspects of the tale. It was delightfully engaging, and I found myself always wanted to read a few more pages before I put the book down for the evening.

Don’t be concerned with the controversy surrounding the novel, a Spanish television series with the same name has attempted to cause problems by claiming plagiarism. But a little investigation into that would show that there are no grounds for that. Both stories involve government agencies that deal with time travel, that’s more or less it. The Spanish show also attempted a similar thing with the North American series Timeless, so, unfortunately, the novel has been tainted by this, but don’t let it dissuade you from enjoying a truly enjoyable read.

The Ministry of Time is a quirky, romantic tale that wears its heart on its sleeve and is available today from Simon & Schuster Canada. Check it out!