Doomsday Book- A Science Fiction Annotation

 

This was pretty much my first foray into science fiction and it was great!  I've actually already checked out a few of the recommended related titles from Novelist, and will also be looking into more works by Connie Willis.  Five stars.

Author: Connie Willis

Genre: Science Fiction

Publication Date: July 1992

Number of Pages: 578 (paperback)

Geographical Setting: Oxford, England

Time Period: 2054; 14^th century

Plot Summary: 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 [as they fight for their own lives]. 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 (description from the publisher).

Subject Headings: Time travel (Past), Plague -- Europe -- History -- 14th century, Civilization, Medieval -- Europe, Women college students -- England, Historians, Epidemics -- 21st century, Twenty-first century, Middle Ages -- Fiction, Black death -- Fiction, Time travel -- Fiction (From Novelist & WorldCat)

Appeal: Atmospheric, Bleak, Compelling (Taken from Novelist)

3 terms that best describe this book: Page-turner, multiple perspectives, suspenseful  

Similar Fiction Works: 

Eifelheim by Michael Flynn: In 1349, one small town in Germany disappeared and has never been resettled. Tom, a contemporary historian, and his theoretical physicist girlfriend Sharon, become interested. Tom indeed becomes obsessed. By all logic, the town should have survived, but it didn't and that violates everything Tom knows about history. What's was special about Eifelheim that it utterly disappeared more than 600 years ago?
Father Deitrich is the village priest of Oberhochwald, the village that will soon gain the name of Teufelheim, in later years corrupted to Eifelheim, in the year 1348, when the Black Death is gathering strength across Europe but is still not nearby. Deitrich is an educated man, knows science and philosophy, and to his astonishment becomes the first contact between humanity and an alien race from a distant star when their interstellar ship crashes in the nearby forest. It is a time of wonders, in the shadow of the plague. (Description from goodreads)

In the Garden of Iden: A Novel of the Company by Kage Baker: In the 24th century, the Company preserves works of art and extinct forms of life (for profit of course). It recruits orphans from the past, renders them all but immortal, and trains them to serve the Company, Dr. Zeus. One of these is Mendoza the botanist. She is sent to Elizabethan England to collect samples from the garden of Sir Walter Iden. But while there, she meets Nicholas Harpole, with whom she falls in love. And that love sounds great bells of change that will echo down the centuries, and through the succeeding novels of The Company. (Description from goodreads)

Kindred by Octavia Butler: Dana, a Black woman, finds herself repeatedly transported to the antebellum South, where she must make sure that Rufus, the plantation owner's son, survives to father Dana's ancestor. (Description from Novelist)

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:

The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly: Chronicles the Great Plague that devastated Asia and Europe in the fourteenth century, documenting the experiences of people who lived during its height while describing the decline of moral boundaries that also marked the period. The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe by George Holmes: This richly illustrated book tells the story of Europe and the Mediterranean over a thousand years which saw the creation of western civilization. Written by expert scholars and based on the latest research, it gives the general reader the most authoritative account of life in medieval Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the coming of the Renaissance. The story is one of profound diversity and change (partial description taken from Novelist).  Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku: One hundred years ago, scientists would have said that lasers, televisions, and the atomic bomb were beyond the realm of physical possibility. Here, physicist Michio Kaku explores to what extent the technologies and devices of science fiction that are deemed equally impossible today might well become commonplace in the future. From teleportation to telekinesis, Kaku uses the world of science fiction to explore the fundamentals--and the limits--of the laws of physics as we know them today. He ranks the impossible technologies by categories--Class I, II, and III--depending on when they might be achieved, within the next century, millennia, or perhaps never. He uses his discussion of each technology as a jumping-off point to explain the science behind it (from publisher description).