Doomsday Book (novel)

The Doomsday Book is a 1993, (ISBN 0553351672) science fiction novel by American author Connie Willis. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, presented annually to works of science fiction, for 1992-93.

Related Topics:
1993 - Science fiction - Author - Connie Willis - Hugo - Nebula Award

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In the "Doomsday Book," Willis imagines a near future in which historians do field work by traveling into the past as observers. In Willis's theory, history has built-in protections to keep the past from being altered, resulting in travelers being prevented from visiting certain places or times. In such a case, a time machine will refuse to function, and no trip is possible. Other destinations in time and place are technically feasible, but the authorities controlling time travel may designate selected areas as too dangerous for the historians.

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In the novel, a young female historian, a specialist in medieval history, persuades her reluctant instructors and the authorities running the project to send her to England in the early 14th century. This period has previously been thought too dangerous for anyone to visit, much less an inexperienced young woman. She will be the first historian to visit the period, and believes that she is well prepared for what she will encounter.

Related Topics:
Medieval - England - 14th century

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Very early in the story, the expectations of the novel's characters are dramatically altered as nearly everything possible goes wrong. The technician who set the time travel coordinates suddenly collapses. It soon becomes apparent that he is an early victim of a deadly new influenza epidemic which promptly interrupts university functions and shuts down the project. The time traveller herself comes down with the infection almost immediately after arriving in the past but, because her immune system was enhanced prior to her jump, she survives. She awakens after several days of fever delirium to find herself being cared for by the residents of a noble household in rural England. This small group of people soon learn that she is literate. Literacy is so rare among women that they conclude she is almost certainly a runaway nun and intend to pack her off to a convent as soon as possible, whether she's willing to go or not. Worse yet, during her illness, she lost track of the physical location where she arrived. To return to her own time, she must somehow locate the drop point and find a way to be there, if and when the door opens again. After some time in the past, the young historian is stunned to learn that the project sent her to the wrong year. She has arrived in England just as the Black Death is starting.

Related Topics:
Influenza - Time travel - Immune system - Fever - Delirium - Literate - Nun - Convent - Black Death

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The book's point of view moves back and forth between the time traveler's situation and the severe epidemic which has struck the university community in the present. There are interesting, well-drawn characters in both eras.

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