- Mass Market Paperback: 578 pages
- Publisher: Bantam USA; Reprint edition (Dec 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553562738
- ISBN-13: 978-0553562736
- Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 3.2 x 17.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (165 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
28,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #90 in Books > Fiction > Science Fiction > Classics
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Connie Willis laboured five years on this story of a history student in 2048 who is transported to an English village in the 14th century. The student arrives mistakenly on the eve of the onset of the Black Plague. Her dealings with a family of "contemps" in 1348 and with her historian cohorts lead to complications as the book unfolds into a surprisingly dark, deep conclusion. The book, which won Hugo and Nebula Awards, draws upon Willis' understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering and the indomitable will of the human spirit.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of 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.
Five years in the writing by one of science fiction's most honored authors, Doomsday Book is a storytelling triumph. 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.
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.
Five years in the writing by one of science fiction's most honored authors, Doomsday Book is a storytelling triumph. 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.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
There are books you read and expect to hate, this was one of those. Connie Willis ? Oh one of those "literary" SF writers! A triumph of style over readability, character & plot.
Well what can I say but I was wrong. Willis time travel jaunt maybe scientifically incorrect but she has written a novel about characters I ended up caring about. The book zips along and contains real emotion.
Just buy it.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The evocation of the sheer nastiness of the 14th Century is brilliant. There is mounting horror as the natives of that century succumb to the Black Death over a Christmas period, witnessed by the appalled time-travelling scholar from our own near future. Some of the scenes are heartrending, as there is plenty of time to get attached to the characters before they start to become ill.
In alternate chapters the contemporary situation in Oxford at Christmas is explored, where an outbreak of highly contagious and fatal flu has broken out, thereby preventing a rescue party from setting up the equipment necessary for retrieving the scholar. The quarantine, medicalisation and bureaucracy of the situation in contemporary Oxford contrasts sharply with the superstition, dubious medicines and appeals to the Almighty that exemplify the 14th Century.
If it sounds unrelentingly grim; it isn't. There is a lot of humour, with fun being poked at characters who are vain and officious in BOTH centuries.
Anyone who has lived in/ studied in/ visited Oxford will find much to recognise in the description of the town, especially the University. Immerse yourself in this book over a summer's day, and you will surface from it as I did: wondering why it isn't freezing cold and surprised to find that you're still healthy!
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Kivrin, a time-travelling historian, is mistakenly sent back to a Medieval village near Oxford as the Black Death is about to strike, and sees all around her succumb to the Plague. At the same time, in her home time, a flu pandemic is laying waste to Oxford, stopping any attempts to find her and bring her home. Unlikely as it may sound, this novel also contains some wonderful comic moments - William, Mrs Gaddson, Finch and the American bellringers, to name but a few. I am absolutely caught up in this story and unable to put it down every time I read it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Jan Bird on...
Domesday...one of my all time favourite reads, read two or three times and will read again after a suitable interval and the way my memory's going these days, the intervals are... Read more
Published 25 days ago by JanBird&DebMeades
One you can't put down
I read this book when it first came out, and rated it as one on the most enjoyable reads ever. Yes there are a few of holes in the plot, but this does not detract from the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by mrsn
excellent, absorbing and well written
I loved this book- its showing its age a little (set partly in the future but no mobile phones?- written in 1992! Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Notman
Memorable
I bought this book when it was first published and was blown away by it. There are points about it that don't really work, but in the main it does, very well. Read more
Published 2 months ago by negomi
Excellent suspense novel
Has the heroine caught the plague? Will the rescue bid succeed? How does Oxford function as a London suburb? Read more
Published 3 months ago by a2025398
Black Death made Real
I also had never heard of Connie Willis before reading this book, but have since been searching out her other novels including the recently published "Blackout' and its sequel 'All... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bearfax
A Stunning Piece of Writing and Great Read
Even now several years after I first read Connie Willis' novel Doomsday Book it is difficult to describe its effect upon me, I have always been interested in both Sci Fi and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Greg House
A Bit of a Chore to Read, but Ultimately Quite Moving
The book was touching but often quite tedious to plod through. I usually enjoy Sci-Fi, factual history and historical fiction. Read more
Published 5 months ago by W Steedman
If this book were a movie, it would be a three hour art house hit...
If this book were a movie, it would be a three hour art house hit which some critics rave about whilst others bemoan its length, saying it would be far better at half the length. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mark Pack
Superb vision of the past - lame vision of the near future
Picked this up as I loved the idea of a researcher from the future kicking about in the Black Death. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Steven Brown
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