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This novel has a fascinating premise, which made it a very quick and easy May BOTM pick. I’ve always loved stories that include time travel, and this one with its inclusion of people from past decades attempting to assimilate in modern London definitely grabbed my attention. I ended up finding enjoyment in this novel, but there were also quite a few elements that felt either unfinished or not as strong as I’d hoped.

The main character is an unnamed British-Cambodian woman whose age I don’t believe was revealed. I assumed she was supposed to be in the 30-35 range, but it’s hard to say exactly. Anyway, the MC serves as a bridge to a man named Graham Gore who was brought from 1847 into present-day London. Her role was intended to help Graham acclimate to the present era for some mysterious reason.

This premise is definitely interesting, and I wanted to know how the story would progress and all the secrets behind this “expat� program. The majority of the novel was actually quite slow-paced though, for at least the first 80% of the book, and the stakes didn’t really feel very high, even if they were supposed to be. Interestingly, I think the novel was at its strongest in some of these slower portions. Yes, the pacing needed to be evened out, but in these segments, there was a lot of fun dialogue among the characters, which was enjoyable to read. It was fun to see the author’s portrayal of Graham and the other expats like Arthur and Maggie juxtaposed with the MC and other present-day characters. There was also a good amount of humor throughout in that sort of witty, banter-infused style that I enjoyed as well.

The MC was very clearly written as a version of the author inserted in this story. That’s fine, and I get it - write what you know and all that. It was just a little on the nose. The MC was entertaining for the most part, though I did find her character a bit strange due to her lack of curiosity about what the Ministry was up to or what her job was really meant to accomplish. She often felt like a cipher rather than a fully-developed character with agency and nuance. On the other hand, Graham was much more developed and well-drawn.

Let’s talk about the science fiction elements. So…the premise alludes to quite a bit here. I mean, there’s time travel for goodness� sake, but it’s never really explained, at least to my satisfaction. Any descriptions of anything that would be classified as “hard science� suddenly shift to very vague language that doesn’t actually describe anything. It’s clear that the science aspects of the story were not at all the focus here. Of course, that sort of scientific detail is not always necessary, but if you’re hoping for any detail here, you will be disappointed.

The love story was quite the slow burn, which works, but the main issue for me is that I didn’t really feel the chemistry. There were definitely some good moments, but it didn’t feel fully believable as a whole.

In terms of themes, there are a lot. In fact, I would say there’s too much, which ends up making the novel feel convoluted and ultimately unfocused. I think Bradley was trying to do too many things, and as a result, none of these things were fully developed or contributed to the story in as meaningful a way as I assume was intended.
Having said all of the above, I did enjoy much about this book, and I’m glad I read it. It also looks like it’s going to be adapted into a TV series, and I do plan to watch that in the future.