Fiction Review: Doomsday Book

I am usually a bit behind in writing my reviews, but I just finished Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, and I loved it so much that I couldn't wait to tell you about it! This novel is a part of her Oxford Time Travel series, though the books are loosely related by setting and characters and do not have to be read in order. I previously read--and enjoyed--To Say Nothing of the Dog. In Doomsday Book, which won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, an Oxford historian travels back in time to the Middle Ages, while epidemics rage in both the present-day and the past.

In 2155, Oxford's time travel expertise is well-known, and they periodically send historians back to particular time periods to study them first-hand. This time, a young undergraduate student named Kivrin is being sent back all the way to the Middle Ages. Her mentor, Mr. Dunsworthy, is against this trip because he feels that they have not yet adequately prepared for it. It will be the farthest back in time they have ever traveled, by far, and much less is known since few people could write at the time, so there is little recorded history. The university has been excavating a nearby Medieval village, and Mr. Gilchrist, as head of the Middle Ages history department, is ready to send Kivrin back to that village in 1320. Kivrin is excited because this will fulfill a dream of hers.

Things begin to go wrong right from the beginning, though. Just hours after sending Kivrin back to the 1300's, the time travel technician, Badri, suddenly collapses with a high fever and is rushed to the hospital. Before he passes out, he tells Mr. Dunworthy that something went wrong, but from then on, he is either unconscious or barely lucid and unable to further explain. Mr. Dunworthy, who was worried about this trip from the start, can not convince Mr. Gilchrist to reopen "the net" to retrieve Kivrin. Meanwhile, though her preset-day colleagues have no idea, the reader knows that Kivrin also fell ill after arriving in the 1300's. She arrived in the middle of a forest and is saved by a priest and a servant from a nearby manor house. They take her to the home, where the master is away, but his wife, two daughters, and mother are caring for the house and village, with a small group of servants. As sick as Kivrin is, things get even worse for her when she realizes that she can't understand the contemporaries--nor them her-- in spite of the languages she studied. Meanwhile, back in Oxford, the infection that knocked Badri out spreads rapidly, even in light of 22nd-century medical technology that has eliminated most infections, and doctors and scientists race to figure out what caused it and how to treat it and stop its spread.

The novel moves back and forth from the 22th century to the 14th century, with epidemics raging in both places, making for doubly-intense suspense. Both stories are equally compelling, with almost unbearable tension, as characters in both times struggle for their lives. I always enjoy time travel stories for how thought-provoking they are, with endless "what ifs," but here, the questions go even further: Where did the modern-day infection come from? How can Kivrin possibly survive a serious infection in the Middle Ages, before germs were even thought of, with horrible sanitation and no medications? The further the story goes, the more convoluted--and compelling--both stories become, with unexpected twists and turns throughout. I could hardly bear to set the book down! I so wanted to tell my husband all the details while I was reading, but I refrained so that he can read it next.

In addition to the gripping plot, the characters in this novel are fully fleshed-out, in both the present-day and the past, making you care about them. I both laughed out loud and cried while reading this outstanding novel--be forewarned that there are two epidemics raging in two different times in this story, so both despair and hope are involved. The historical aspect is always interesting in a time travel book, but it was especially fascinating here, as the Middle Ages is a particularly mysterious and distant time. The historical details of daily life are riveting. This is a fast-paced, enthralling rollercoaster ride of a story, and I loved every minute of it. I never wanted it to end and had a terrible book hangover when I finished it. I will definitely be reading Fire Watch, Willis' first book in the Oxford Time Travel world.

578 pages, Bantam Books

Recorded Books

NOTE: Yes, I once again read a novel about a terrible epidemic during our own pandemic--that makes three so far this year, and I swear it was not intentional! Be aware that there are similarities between this fictional world and what is currently going on in our own world. The novel was written in 1992, but masks, quarantines, and vaccine development all play a role here. Obviously, with the time travel element and half of the story taking place in the Middle Ages, there are plenty of differences, too, but if you are feeling particularly fragile about current events, you might want to wait to read this one.

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