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Webster University Library Book Club

The Webster University Library Book Club meets bi-monthly to discuss both fiction and non-fiction books. Join us for meaningful discussions and explore new books. Everyone is welcome!

Webster University Library Book Club

Join Us!  Webster University Book Club will meet in person in the Library Conference Room (101 Edgar Road, St. Louis MO 63119) with a Zoom option for those who prefer.

  • Register for the Zoom option to get the Zoom link.
  • Email Julie Laramie julielaramie@webster.edu to join the Book Club email list. 

Next meeting

Monday, July 14, 2025

12 p.m. (Central time) 

Book Club read

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Book Club meeting information for The Ministry of Time

About the book

"A time-toying spy romance that’s truly a thriller.

In the author’s note following the moving conclusion of her gripping, gleefully delicious debut novel, Bradley explains how she gathered historical facts about Lt. Graham Gore, a real-life Victorian naval officer and polar explorer, then “extrapolated a great deal” about him to come up with one of her main characters, a curly-haired, chain-smoking, devastatingly charming dreamboat who has been transported through time. Having also found inspiration in the sole extant daguerreotype of Gore, showing him to have been “a very attractive man,” Bradley wrote the earliest draft of the book for a cluster of friends who were similarly passionate about polar explorers. Her finished novel—taut, artfully unspooled, and vividly written—retains the kind of insouciant joy and intimacy you might expect from a book with those origins. It’s also breathtakingly sexy. The time-toggling plot focuses on the plight of a British civil servant who takes a high-paying job on a secret mission, working as a “bridge” to help time-traveling “expats” resettle in 21st-century London—and who falls hard for her charge, the aforementioned Commander Gore. Drama, intrigue, and romance ensue. And while this quasi-futuristic tale of time and tenderness never seems to take itself too seriously, it also offers a meaningful, nuanced perspective on the challenges we face, the choices we make, and the way we live and love today.

This rip-roaring romp pivots between past and present and posits the future-altering power of love, hope, and forgiveness."

Description from Kirkus Reviews (2024)

Check-out the book

All Webster Book Club books for 2025 are located at the Circulation Desk on Level 1. Check-out a copy today!

Book Club flyer 2025

Interested in joining other Webster University Book Club reads? 

Check out the 2025 Book Club flyer!