This was such an odd book! I think mostly in a good way, but it really wasn’t what I was expecting.
The story focused on a top-secret project where selected figures from the past have been ‘rescued’ from death in their own time periods and transported to the future. In this future, each of the ‘expats’ from history are assigned a ‘bridge’, a civil servant to help them acclimatise to their new existence. One of these visitors from the past is Commander Gore, an explorer who – as far as the history books are concerned- died on a failed expedition to the Arctic in the Victorian era. He is assigned to a female ‘bridge’ and so begins the process of learning about the modern age. However, nothing (and especially secret time travel, it seems) is simple and the project soon proves to be more dangerous than was envisaged for all involved.
I really loved that this book defies attempts to categorise it into a clear genre – there’s obviously elements of science fiction with all the time-travelling, but also romance and a bits of thriller and also some good historical fiction as we delve into Commander Gore’s past. Indeed, Commander Graham Gore was a real person, so be prepared to fall into the Google rabbit hole after reading this book! It’s a very clever mash-up and it’s packed with thought-provoking ideas and also humour.
Indeed, I could quite happily have read a whole book about Commander Gore’s acclimatisation to the future – this was the part of the book I absolutely adored as he grappled with concepts that were totally unfamiliar and also started to build a lovely friendship with his ‘bridge’. I wish there was more of this as it was funny and charming and totally engaging. Similarly, finding out about the other time-travellers and the things they found odd was also interesting – I really liked 17th century expat Margaret who took to modern sexual mores and feminism with aplomb!
While I zipped though the first sections of the book for these exact reasons, I was less caught up in the thriller elements towards the end as it became clear that the stakes were high and there was real danger for the expats and their bridges. It is all really cleverly done and well-written, but I felt a bit cheated of the charm and humour from the start. That’s just my personal preference – it is a great book and we will all love different elements, I’m sure.
Overall, this is a lively and engaging debut novel that is definitely worth a read. Go into it with an open mind, embrace the genre-shifting throughout and you’ll be in for a fun ride.
Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy of the book.
Header photo by 𝓴𝓘𝓡𝓚 𝕝𝔸𝕀 on Unsplash
