The Ministry of Time

A time-traveling expat extracted from the year 1847, Graham Gore was a commander in the Royal Navy and part of a stranded Arctic expedition. His role in the story is partly that of the romantic interest, and his charming wit and humor add immensely to the novel’s romance-genre vibes while also colorfully illustrating his adjustment to the modern world. Much of Graham’s characterization comes from the narrator’s direct interpretation. Early in the story, she notes:

The more I got to know him, the more I discovered Gore was the most entirely realized person I’d ever met. In his own time, he had liked hunting, sketching, flute playing (he was very good at this), and the company of other people (23).

In addition, she qualifies him as the calmest person she has ever met—and incredibly charming. From both the narrator’s observations and her attraction to Graham, it’s clear that his good looks are an important part of his characterization. Despite being handsome, charming, talented, and extremely capable, he has flaws and complexity. Guilt and grief over the fate of his crew lurk beneath Graham’s easygoing exterior, as does culture shock as he encounters nearly two centuries’ worth of social change all at once. Thinking back on his work with the Preventative Squadron, he realizes that his efforts and level of compassion at the time were inadequate. Despite Graham’s charm, he’s inexperienced with women and romance and lacks confidence. When the narrator asks what he would do when he met a woman he was interested in, he responds, “I would break into a cold sweat and put myself on the nearest ship” (235). The spy thriller Rogue Male is Graham’s inspiration and motivation for becoming a field agent with the Ministry. His deeper, unconscious motivation throughout the story is a search for personal redemption for his failures on the Franklin Expedition.

Presented for most of the novel as merely the Vice Secretary of the Ministry’s expatriation project, Adela is eventually revealed as a future version of the narrator who time-traveled back 20-plus years to change the course of events. The narrator describes her as “a small, tough, wiry woman” who reminds her of “an elegant alligator” (37). Her more noteworthy physical features include an eye patch, straw-like blond hair, and a heavily reconstructed, constantly changing face that seems to move and slide with a mind of its own. Adela reveals her motivation when the narrator learns her true identity. She hoped to spare the narrator from the pain of Arthur and Maggie’s deaths and thought she could prevent it if she caught the double agent in time. She also intended to make sure everything happens “the right way” (301), meaning that the Ministry retains its authority so that when war comes, the British government has the technological advantage.

Adela believes the Brigadier and Salese killed Arthur and Maggie in her timeline. When she learns the truth, that the Ministry had them killed, she undergoes a significant transformation. She realizes being “a company woman all [her] life” was a mistake (303), so she directs the narrator to eliminate the expat project. Her Ministry role in her timeline led future generations to blame her, Graham, and the British government for the near-apocalyptic state of the world. Adela’s choice to turn against the Ministry creates a different path with the potential for better outcomes. In her role as Vice Secretary, Adela sees herself as a mentor for her younger self, the narrator. She’s not as successful in this role as she hopes to be. In the broader context of the story, Adela’s character functions as a foil to the narrator. As an example of what the narrator could become, she emphasizes the choices and traits that put the narrator on a different path.

One of the five-time traveling expats, Arthur Reginald-Smith was extracted from World War I’s Battle of the Somme in 1916. He’s in his thirties, tall, and handsome, with “close-cropped hair and a fine, clean jaw” (60). Arthur’s experiences in combat have been so traumatizing that he weeps in the street when he hears a car backfire. In the first few weeks after his extraction, he’s unable to remember that the war is over and keeps expecting to be sent back to the battlefront. As he adjusts to the 21st century, his many positive attributes surface, portraying a sympathetic, likable character. He’s kind, gentle, intelligent, and humble. Because he’s a secondary character, he’s not as developed as Graham or the narrator. As a gay or bisexual man coming to grips with his orientation in an unfamiliar era, he shows hints of depth and complexity, but he doesn’t enter the spotlight enough to be fully realized. Arthur is in love with Graham and can potentially be seen as romantic competition for the narrator. More importantly, his character helps demonstrate how social attitudes regarding orientation have changed from supposedly less tolerant eras—and how they haven’t.

Another of the five time-traveling expats, Margaret Kemble (who goes by Maggie) was extracted from 1665 during a bubonic plague outbreak known as the Great Plague of London. She’s in her late twenties and, according to the narrator, stunningly beautiful. Maggie’s character isn’t overtly a romantic interest for the narrator; the narrator never states outright that she’s attracted to Maggie or considers a romantic relationship with her. However, the subtext suggests a flirtation between the two, which supports the idea of sexuality as fluid rather than an integral, permanent part of one’s identity. Maggie herself, however, is identified as a lesbian. Whether she would call herself this once she becomes fluent in contemporary parlance is ambiguous. Responses to Maggie’s orientation reveal a spectrum of social attitudes, indicating that much progress has been made since her own time but that there’s still room for improvement. Her initial handler, for example, calls Maggie’s orientation an “immediate problem” and says he’s “eminently unqualified” to handle her “predilections” (93). The irony is that he’s supposed to help Maggie adjust to contemporary society, but in some ways his attitudes are more outdated than hers. Maggie’s character adds humor to the story through her witty dialogue and lovable, cheeky personality.