British-Cambodian writer and editor Kaliane Bradley’s time-travel rom-com debut The Ministry of Time has been one of the biggest hits of the publishing year.
Set in the near future and imagining civil servants who are paired with figures from the past to act as their “bridge” into modern life, it’s a genre-bending mix of science fiction, romance, thriller and comedy that excites and entertains, while also tackling big themes including colonisation, climate and migration.
Eleanor Catton called it “outrageously brilliant”, it’s been listed as a Book of the Year by The Sunday Times, Vanity Fair and Barack Obama among countless others, and a major BBC adaptation will soon reach our screens.
Not a bad result for a book that began life as a work of fan fiction written for Bradley’s friends during lockdown.
Saraid de Silva meets her to discuss the book and its phenomenal trajectory.
Also at Auckland Writers Festival
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