The novel is a sci-fi romance about a government employee in the newly founded Ministry of Time, taking care of one of the first time-travellers, known as "expats".
She lives with, monitors and helps adjust Graham Gore, a ship commander who would've perished in Franklin's lost expedition in the Arctic, to modernity.
Bradley conceived of the novel during the 2020 COVID pandemic, while watching the AMC series The Terror, in which Gore is a minor character.
To entertain friends, she wrote vignettes for several weeks imagining Gore brushing up against modern England.
"[6] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Lauren LeBlanc called it a, "witty, thought-provoking romance novel.