The Ministry of Time

Kaliane Bradley’s interest in historical polar exploration inspired her to write The Ministry of Time. She was particularly fascinated by the 1845 Franklin Expedition (named after its commander, Sir John Franklin). She and friends who shared her interests imagined what it would be like if their favorite polar explorer lived with them. Bradley began writing the book to amuse these friends, basing it on her favorite explorer from the Franklin Expedition: First Lieutenant Graham Gore. He was second in command to James Fitzjames, captain of HMS Erebus, who lacked any previous polar experience. The second ship, HMS Terror, was captained by Francis Cozier, who had gone on five prior Arctic and Antarctic voyages.

The two ships set out from Greenhithe in Kent on May 19, 1845. They were tasked with finding the Northwest Passage, which at the time was a hypothetical route through the North American Arctic that would connect the United Kingdom more directly to trading empires in Asia. Neither the ships nor their crews were ever seen again. In 1854, after a seven-year search for the lost ships, the expedition was officially deemed lost, and all its members were pronounced dead. In 1859, Lieutenant William Hobson was on another Arctic voyage when he found notes left behind by the crew of the Franklin Expedition. The notes (which Bradley includes in the plot of her novel) indicated that after two winters stuck in the ice, the remaining crew abandoned the ships and began marching toward the nearest European outpost: Back’s Fish River, 800 miles south. None of them made it.

Little exists on record about Graham Gore, according to Bradley. What she was able to piece together about him revealed a remarkable man, one she could develop into an intriguing literary character. He was about 35 years old when the Franklin Expedition began. Captain Fitzjames describes him in a letter as “a man of great stability of character, a very good officer, and the sweetest of tempers” (333). Other documentation revealed that he was a popular and well-liked officer. Many colleagues remarked on his kindness. He played the flute well, enjoyed drawing, and was an experienced game hunter. From small anecdotes about him in historical records, Bradley extrapolated the personality, character traits, habits, and career path that define him in The Ministry of Time.

From writing this book, Bradley concluded that living with a Victorian man would force one to confront Britain’s imperialist legacy and modern-day realities like the climate crisis and dating conventions after the sexual revolution. Writing the book also led Bradley to consider the type of malignant government projects that would surely be at play in bringing a Victorian naval officer into the 21st century, and to imagine the inevitable fallout.