Doomsday Book

June 1, 1992
This new book by Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning author Willis ( Lincoln's Dreams ) is an intelligent and satisfying blend of classic science fiction and historical reconstruction. Kivrin, a history student at Oxford in 2048, travels back in time to a 14th-century English village, despite a host of misgivings on the part of her unofficial tutor. When the technician responsible for the procedure falls prey to a 21st-century epidemic, he accidentally sends Kivrin back not to 1320 but to 1348--right into the path of the Black Death. Unaware at first of the error, Kivrin becomes deeply involved in the life of the family that takes her in. But before long she learns the truth and comes face to face with the horrible, unending suffering of the plague that would wipe out half the population of Europe. Meanwhile, back in the future, modern science shows itself infinitely superior in its response to epidemics, but human nature evidences no similar evolution, and scapegoating is still alive and well in a campaign against ``infected foreigners.''p. 204 This book finds villains and heroes in all ages, and love, too, which Kivrin hears in the revealing and quietly touching deathbed confession of a village priest.

Connie Willis is one of the most imaginative and skillful writers of American science fiction today. Her prose style is lean, her dialogue excellent, and her themes mature. This tale occurs in a British university of the near future, where history may be researched via time-travel. As a student gets lost in the fourteenth century, an epidemic of mysterious origin breaks out back home. Jenny Sterlin is a mannered reader who gives one the impression that she has not prepared much before entering the sound studio. She has a pleasant voice and excellent diction, but her text contains much more than she has the chops to communicate. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine