SF Masterworks Doomsday Book A time travel novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading

Introduction by Adam Roberts.


A woman travels back through time to complete her doctoral thesis - but, due to an accident, she lands in the middle of the Black Plague of 1348. The Oxford she left behind is laid low by a mysterious strain of influenza and, with no-one willing to risk arranging her rescue, time is running out...


Quotes:


"a tour de force" - New York Times Book Review

"ambitious, finely detailed and compulsivly readable" - Locus

"it is a book that feels fundamentally true; it is a book to live in" - Washington Post

Bio: Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (1945-) has won, among other awards, ten HUGO Awards and six NEBULA Awards for her writing. She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado.

"A tour de force" - New York Times Book Review

"Ambitious, finely detailed and compulsively readable" - Locus

"It is a book that feels fundamentally true; it is a book to live in" - Washington Post

For Kivrin Engle, 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 a bullet-proof backstory. 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 finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.

Winner of both the 1993 Hugo and Nebula Best Novel awards, this is a science fiction classic.

Read what everyone is saying about Doomsday Book:

'By the time I finished the book, I had the feeling I also spent time living with these medieval men, women and children. The novel is that powerful' Goodreads reviewer,

'I can't stop thinking about Doomsday Book. I can't get the images out of my head. I can't get the train of thought out of my head. I can't stop my throat from tightening or my jaw from clenching' Goodreads reviewer,

'I was fascinated by CW's take on time travel and the mirroring of the plague in the future with the past's Black Death, but moreover, the characters snuck up on me and tore my soul apart' Goodreads reviewer,

'A lovely and heart-wrenching story, highly recommended. It's much more about the characters than the hard science. Kivrin's - and the villagers' - bravery in the face of death and tragedy hit me right in the heart' Goodreads reviewer,

'This is the mostest bestest time travel novel ever written . . . Connie Willis is just too bloody good' Goodreads reviewer,

'The strengths of this novel are its attention to Historical details, the engaging and believable characters suitable to an era and the dark but hopeful tones and themes of the story' Goodreads reviewer,

'I read this book for the first time about six years ago and barely survived it, I was so involved in everything that was happening. Connie Willis is an amazing writer' Goodreads reviewer,