Doomsday Book: A Novel of the Oxford Time Travel Series

Connie Willis

Jan 2011 · Sold by Spectra

About this ebook

Connie Willis draws upon her understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering, and the indomitable will of the human spirit.

“A tour de force.”—The New York Times Book Review

For Kivrin, preparing to travel back in time to study one of the deadliest eras in humanity’s history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received.

But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin—barely of age herself—finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history’s darkest hours.

Ratings and reviews

Book focuses so much on the minutiae of common British academic existence ... way too much time is spent talking about lavatory paper. We get it, there's contrast. There's juxtaposition.

It has been a long time since I read this book, it was assigned by a writing 102 instructor. I give it 5 stars because it is so vivid in my memory, I remember it a white knuckle intense read. Very engaging and eloquently written. The historical scenes were so well written I felt like I was there. The quotes taken from real writings were heartwrenching. Along the lines of... ""They died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in ... ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug. And I ... buried my five children with my own hands ... And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world." - An Italian man writing about the Black Death (Bubonic plague)" I'm pretty sure that is not the quote as I remember it, and so perhaps the writer fictionalized her quotes. As I remembered it, it was said, similarly, by a mother about her children. But perhaps I remember it wrong. It was after all over 10 years ago. Anyway excellent read, I highly recommend it.

One of my favorite books ever. When we read about the Black Plague devastating Europe in the Middle Ages, do we really appreciate what that meant? And do we believe that we are immune in this age of air travel, Ebola, Marburg, etc.? Willis presents a very moving image of the human side of this cataclysmic event. We would be foolish to believe that we are too advanced to suffer the same fate and react in the same way.

About the author

Connie Willis has won six Nebula Awards (more than any other science fiction writer), six Hugo Awards, and for her first novel, Lincoln's Dreams, John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Her novel Doomsday Book won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards, and her first short-story collection, Fire Watch, was a New York Times Notable Book. Her other works include To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether, Impossible Things, Remake, Uncharted Territory and Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. Ms. Willis lives in Greeley, Colorado, with her family and is hard at work on her next novel, Passage.