Doomsday Book Mass Market Paperback – August 1, 1993

The Doomsday Book by the American author Connie Willis is an amazing, unique, captivating 600 page novel taking place in two times concurrently: near-future Oxford, England and a 14th Century medieval English village. Historian and Great Courses lecturer Teofilo Ruiz recommended this work to me and I’m glad he did – Doomsday Book is a terrific read.The novel is science-fiction in the sense that those 21st century Brits have the technology to place historians back in time via a sophisticated version of Mr. Peabody’s WAYBAC machine (recall the 1960s cartoon where Mr. Peabody, a bespectacled intellectual dog, and his adopted human son Sherman travel back through time and meet such historical figures as Cleopatra and Nero). Take my word for it here, Doomsday Book’s time-travel and parallel dramas will keep you turning the pages.And there are a lot of pages to turn, which prompts me to offer a couple of observations about reading longer novels. Really make the commitment by taking notes, creating outlines and sketching maps; a longer novel is a world unto itself and usually requires years for the author to complete. You will be honoring the integrity of the art form by devoting the needed energy to keep up with the details. The payoff is great: you’ll have the enjoyment of living for many hours in a vivid, fictional reality. Also, try listening to the audiobook as listening will open an additional dimension on the world created by the author, especially the various voices of the characters.Anyway, back on Doomsday Book. I wouldn’t want to say too much about the storylines and thus spoil for readers because this novel is simply too good and has too many unexpected surprises. Briefly, the time-traveler is an medieval historian, a young woman by the name of Kivrin, who has a thirst for first-hand experience of the 14th century. Her wish is granted and we join Kivrin as she travels to a small medieval village and develops a deep emotional connection with a number of the villagers, including 12 year old Rosemond, 6 year old Agnes, and Father Roche, the village priest. Kivrin is given a very real and direct experience as the villagers face challenges and live the cycle of their days and nights in a harsh, hostile, rustic world. 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.Meanwhile, back in 21th century Oxford, Kivrin’s mentor, a scholar by the name of Mr. Dunworthy, has his own problems with the time-travel technology and unfolding events at his school and in his town. He has to deal with an entire range of people, such as Mrs. Gaddson, an overbearing mother of one of the students, Mr. Gilchrist, a power-hungry academic, Colin, a precocious 12 year obsessed with the extremes of medieval history, Badri, a key technician for the time-travel machine, Montoya, an American Archeologist., not to mention a chorus of bell-ringers from America, including their headstrong leader. Again, I really got to know these people via the magic of Ms. Willis’s fiction.Like all first-rate literature, Doomsday Book provides insight into what makes us all human, our dealing with love and hate, with hope and despair, with the beauty of life and those ugly and disgusting parts of life. However, there is an added component in this novel: Kivrin, our main-character and heroine, lives in a medieval world with the knowledge and historical vision of the 21st century, which adds a real spice. What a fictional world; what a reading and listening experience (I also listened to the audiobook). My modest understanding of what it must have been like to live in the 14th century has been much enriched.

This was a pretty good book. She is a better than decent writer. I guess it deserved the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus awards. Her writing is very clean and readable. And it is interesting and a good read. In some ways, it probably could have been better. I had a bit of a hard time getting into it, but then it got better.There are two books in the series, this is Book 2, and I accidentally read this one first. I have the first one, too, but haven't read it. I don't know if it matters if you read them out of order. It would have been nice to see some kind of a reminder or something that this was Book 2 so I knew to read Book 1 first. Or maybe I have it wrong and this is Book 1. I can't tell, other than apparent first publication dates. (1993 and 1999?)I bought this for $8.99 (Kindle) in early 2024, which is almost too much. It might have been a bundle or something. It says it is $12.99 now, which is ridiculously high. Especially for a 30 year old book. (?) I usually only pay that much for NEW King, Koontz, McCammon, Gabaldon, etc. So maybe try Book 1 at $6.99 to see if you want to pay that much for Book 2.It's BS to charge more than about $3 to $4 for a Kindle book, since there is no hardcopy costs for printing paper and such, so it is "all gravy" (+/-), and also a lot of money for an "old book". That's the way I look at it, anyway.

In “Doomsday Book”, Connie Willis writes about Kivrin, an historian who travels to 1348 from the year 2054 in order to observe the culture of fourteenth century rural England. Due to an accident with the time travel device, Kivrin arrives in time to witness firsthand the plague near Oxford, recording her observations as she tries to survive.Kivrin stays in the manor of Guillaume D’Iverie with his mother, wife, and daughters who have fled the plague. D’Iverie betrothed his eldest daughter, Rosemund, to a local knight, Sir Bloet. When Kivrin discovers the details of Rosemund’s engagement, she reflects on her research, “Girls in the 1300s had frequently been betrothed before they were of age, sometimes even at birth” and these betrothals “had been a business arrangement, a way to join lands and enhance social standing,” though “girls weren’t usually married till they were fourteen or fifteen, certainly not before they started exhibiting signs of maturation” (pg. 254). Rosemund’s betrothal to Sir Bloet benefits D’Iverie’s family due to Bloet’s extreme wealth, as evidenced by his bride gifts of a golden brooch inset with rubies and various brass and silver trinkets. In this system, “the carrying on of the line was the all-important concern” and “the younger the woman, the better her chance of producing enough heirs that one at least would survive to adulthood, even if its mother didn’t” (pg. 309). After the plague kills Bloet and his entourage, Kivrin remarks on Rosemund’s fate, “Rosemund would be sold off to some nobleman the king owed a debt to or whose alliegance he was trying to buy, one of the troublesome supporters of the Black Prince, perhaps, and taken God knew where to God knew what situation. There were worse things than a leering old man and a shrewish sister-in-law. Baron Garnier had kept his wife in chains for twenty years. The Count of Anjou had burned his alive” (pg. 500). Kivrin’s observations recall Boccaccio’s contemporary portrayal of marriage in “The Decameron” as a business transaction in which the wife became the property of the husband. Furthermore, Kivrin witnesses what happens when a wife fails to conform to the expectations of her when Kivrin discovers that D’Iverie’s servant Gawyn is “obviously in love with his lord’s wife,” Eliwys (pg. 204). D’Iverie’s mother knows of Eliwys and Gawyn’s feelings and, when plague strikes, she accuses them of bringing it, saying, “The Lord punishes adulterers and all their house…as he now punishes you. It is your sin that has brought the plague here” (pg. 426). While husbands philandered with impunity, wives were expected to remain chaste and faithful and, when they failed, they easily became scapegoats for social misfortunes.These domestic elements are what make Willis’s writing particularly compelling. If one is willing to suspend disbelief about time travel, Willis recreates the day-to-day lives of people from the past in a manner that feels authentic without being too analytical or too vague. Further, Kivrin’s initial disorientation helps the reader as Willis reveals the world to us in pieces, allowing the reader to adapt just as Kivrin does. This is a fun, clever time-travel story that will encourage readers to do some research into the history after they finish the fiction.

Well worth a read

I love all the novels of Connie Willis but this one is a real masterpiece. A must have !

I read this book back in the early 1990s, and just reread it now. it's a dual timeline story, split between 2054 and the 1300s where a character has travelled back to for research in Medieval Studies. I remembered some of the 1300 storyline, but had completely forgotten the 2054 story but it made a huge impression this time. It's set after a global pandemic, and though it doesn't go into detail about what happened, their world has protocols in place for any outbreak of a new disease or start of an epidemic. They immediately quarantine the area where it breaks out and everyone wears masks.It was very interesting to compare the book's version of an epidemic with what is happening in 2021.The medieval part of the story is also very well done.

Apocalyptic... read during the 2020 Pandemic, this novel truly hit home. Loved every minute - unputdownable 🌹🌹🌹Add to your reading list if time travel and historical novels are your “thing” 👏👏👏👏

This book is a rather longwinded but really wonderful story about the plague of the 1300s. It has inspired me to research more about the plague and the long lasting ramifications of that time. Doomsday Book is well worth a read.