The time period Kivrin wishes to study has been off limits, but with the acting head of the History department away on vacation, the interim head removes the restriction and allows Kivrin to make the trip. Kivrin takes pain-staking steps to prepare herself for the experience and receives all the necessary innoculations to ensure her health during the time spent in the medieval ages. She enters the "net" which allows her to travel back in time and steps out into what she thinks is the Oxfordshire area in 1320.

It is difficult to discuss the rest of the novel without revealing a key plot twist that comes later in the novel. Most readers will see it coming though and it seems fairly obvious from the beginning, so I won't refrain from mentioning it here. However, if you would like to maintain the element of surprise when reading the novel, I suggest you refrain from reading further.

Soon after entering the 14th century, Kivrin falls ill and is rescued by some nearby villagers. Kivrin is able to fight off the illness thanks to her enhanced immune-system confered on her by the doctors back in the 21st century before her trip back in time. However, the illness spreads rapidly through Oxford in the present day and the authorities are forced to place the city under quarantine.

From this point, the story alternates between both time periods. Personally, I found Kivrin's experiences in the 14th century to be far more interesting then the goings-on in Oxford. Kivrin eventually recovers from her illness and awakens under the care of a minor noble's family. Her identity is questioned, but Kivrin feigns memory loss from the illness and is spared further inquiry. She grows close to the family, particularly the two children of the household. All the while, she plots to find a way back to the rendezvous site where she will be picked up from the future.

If you haven't already guessed, the major revelation is that Kivrin is actually sent to 1348 and not 1320 and consequently arrives just in time to witness the horrors of the "bubonic plague" first-hand. The plague sweeps through her village and she is forced to endure through the suffering of the villagers, while trying to comfort them in their final hour.

The novel that most comes to mind when reading Doomsday Book is Timeline by Michael Crichton. Both involve time-travel back to the 14th century, though there plots do differ significantly beyond that. Timeline is certainly a more compact story and probably makes for a less challenging read. I do applaud Crichton's effort to elaborate more upon the time-travel process, something which Willis clearly avoided.

To be fair, Doomsday Book is less about time-travel and more about the medieval period and the novel really shines in this aspect. Kivrin's experiences in dealing with the plague are provocative and uplifting. Of course, no one is going to mistake Willis's writing for Crichton's. Connie Willis has won 6 Hugo Awards, including the 1993 award for this particular book. Chricton for all his commercial success will most likely never earn that distinction.

I don't mean to demean Timeline, because I really enjoyed reading it. I'm just trying to point out that they are two books that approach similar subject matter from two different angles. My suggestion would be to read both and make up your own mind about them.

As much as I enjoyed Doomsday Book, it is not without a few shortcomings. I think that the novel could have benefitted from some additional discussion of the time-travel mechanics. Willis conveniently glosses over this, though I suppose that she viewed time-travel merely as a device to enable the story she wanted to tell. One thing I did find interesting was the description of "space-time" as some sort of self-protecting entity that would prevent any paradoxes from arising through its own internal workings. It's an interesting premise, but still seems like a facile approach towards circumventing the paradoxes that authors are forced to struggle with in the time-travel genre.

Another minor complaint concerns the elusiveness of the true head of the History department that allows Kivrin's trip back in time to take place in the first place. Throughout the novel, various characters search in vain for the department head and it seems inconceivable that such an important faculty member could disappear without anyone knowing his whereabouts. Even when the quarantine is announced, he fails to surface. I think this was another literary shortcut taken by Willis to ensure the plot structure she desired.

In spite of these shortcomings, I found Doomsday Book to be a thoroughly engrossing read and an insightful view of one of the darkest periods in human history, one which I will from now on see through Kivrin's compassionate eyes.