History Literature / DoomsdayBook

* AdultFear - Pretty much the whole thing.

* ApocalypseHow - Historically, the Black Death was Continental/Societal Disruption, but to the people of the small villages of Oxfordshire, [[spoiler:it is essentially Regional/Extinction.]]

* BolivianArmyEnding - The reader never does find out what happened to many of the off-screen contemps.
* TheBlackDeath - Duh.
* BurnTheWitch - Discussed at length, especially by the 21st century historians who think mediaeval peasants will do this at the drop of a hat.
* TheCasanova - William Gaddson in the future, who is apparently irresistible to anyone he puts his mind to. Gawyn tries for this in the past but doesn't pull it off so successfully.
* CheatingWithTheMilkman - It's unclear whether it's been consummated , but Gawyn is in love with the ambivalent lady of the manor, Eliwys. The Mother-in-law seems very suspicious of these two. It's also worth mentioning how close the red-headed Gawyn is with the light-haired Agnes, who, Kivrin notes, looks nothing like her dark haired older sister Rosamund.
* [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]] - So, so, so many. Willis spends pretty well the first half of the novel setting them up, under the guise of world building. A few examples: [[spoiler:Agnes casually mentioning that someone died of 'the blue sickness', which Kivrin takes to mean suffocation, but is actually the contemporary name for the plague; Badri mumbling "backup", which Dunworthy thinks means he wants space but actually means he backed-up Kivrin's coordinates, so they can retrieve her from the past; the dig site where Kivrin was preparing for the jump, which is where the flu comes from; the bell-ringers, who are a minor annoyance for most of the novel, but whose advice on bell-ringing becomes useful when Dunworthy has to ring for the dead...]]

* CourtlyLove - played straight and subverted. Gawyn is very much in love with his lord's wife in the best courtly tradition, but on the other hand he's not above banging her servant girl in the stable when the opportunity arises.

* EasyAmnesia - Kivrin's excuse for not knowing her past once she realizes the backstory she'd concocted would fall apart too easily under scrutiny. The fact that she'd spent the preceding few days with a head wound, raving unintelligibly, helps quite a bit.
* EverybodysDeadDave - [[spoiler:All the towns in the area in the Middle Ages. All of them. Dunworthy and Colin stumble upon one where corpses filled the street... At least in Kivrin's village, everyone got buried.]]
* DeadPersonImpersonation - Dunworthy gets out of the hospital because Colin forged a note signed by [[spoiler:the dead Dr. Ahrens.]]
* DevelopingDoomedCharacters -
* TheDungAges - Subverted: Kivrin takes a while to adjust to the idea that the Middle Ages are neither - both better and worse than she might have expected. The doctor who immunizes Kivrin offers to ''cauterize her nose'' because they think the stench will be just that overpowering.
* FaceOfAThug - Father Roche, which plays a big part of the story. When Kivrin is delirious, she thinks she sees two people, one with a savage face of a brigand and one with a kindly face. It's not until much later that she finally figures out that they were both Roche.
* GentleGiant - Kivrin repeatedly describes Roche as having enormous hands, and very late in the story mentions how much smaller she is than him. Kivrin is also repeatedly struck by how patient and gentle Roche is. [[spoiler: After his death, it's explicitly said that he's simply too big for three people (two of whom are, admittedly, very ill) to bury.]]
* GoodShepherd - Roche.
* HopeSpot - [[spoiler: Rosemund seems to fully recover, and Kivrin plans for her, Roche and Rosemund to flee to plague-free Scotland. Doesn't last long.]]
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday - RealLife example: TheBlackDeath hit Oxford at Christmastime.
* InfantImmortality - [[spoiler: Nope.]]
* IronicEcho - Several - "The Middle Ages are a ten", "backup"...
* Literature/LittleRedRidingHood - Kivrin compares Agnes in her red cape to little red riding hood. Agnes does seem to have a preoccupation with the wolves in the forest. [[spoiler: Agnes may well have been infected by her hound Blackie- the first plague victim. She gets sick while looking for the dog's grave at the edge of the first in her red cloak.]]
* LittlestCancerPatient - Like Willis would really kill off the adorable Agnes and Rosamund. [[spoiler:She would]].
* TheLostWoods - The witchwood with Kivrin's drop [[spoiler: which she spends much of the book searching for.]] Additionally, [[spoiler: Father Roche and his donkey see Kivrin come through the drop here, which would certainly seem like magic to a contemp.]]
* MedievalMorons - Referenced and averted. Dunworthy and Gilchrist believe that everyone in the distant past is a backwards simpleton or thug. The actual contemps Kivrin meets are pretty normal people, with relatable problems.
* TheMiddleAges - Specifically TheLateMiddleAges, with emphasis placed on the subtle differences between decades and centuries.
* MistakenIdentity - Kivrin spends much of the novel trying to get the knight who saw her come through the drop to show her where it is. [[spoiler:It wasn't the knight at all-- it was Roche.]]
* OutlivingOnesOffspring - According to Gilchrist, so common in the middle ages that parents were incapable of feeling grief for dead children. [[spoiler: He's wrong about the second part.]]
* {{Oxbridge}} - Set in Oxford.
* ParentalSubstitute - Dunworthy, who is Kivrin's tutor.
* ThePlague - Both the Black Death, and influenza.
* PlotParallel - The pandemics in both times.

* {{Tearjerker}} - This book gets very sad, very suddenly.
* TechnologyMarchesOn - Dunworthy needs to find a landline telephone despite being in a futuristic university that travels through time. Brasenose's computer has a "moat" rather than a firewall.
* TelevisionGeography - The depiction of Oxford is generally very good, but there are a lot of oddities for anyone who knows the city - for example, the bizarre claim that the distance from Balliol to the Bodleian library could be described as "four blocks".
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Kivrin had to learn to spin to go -- with a spindle, not a spinning wheel.
* TimeTravel - "The Net," a system used to send people into the past, and can pick them up, if they're in the right place.
* TimeTravellersAreSpies - One character tries this on Kivrin, although nobody else takes it very seriously [[spoiler:(and Roche thinks she's actually St Catherine of Alexandria instead)]].
* TranslatorMicrobes - Used to translate medieval English. Played with in that they don't work very well until they get enough language samples to work with, so Kivrin doesn't understand the contemps until a few days after she arrives (being half-conscious doesn't help).
* TwoDecadesBehind - The portrayal of Oxford in 2055 is oddly stuck in the 1970s: the characters use pound notes (removed from circulation in the 80s), try to make "trunk calls" on a telephone system that is improbably overloaded, and the colleges seem to have no central heating, modern conveniences, or administrative staff. But video phones are totally the rage!
* UnexpectedSuccessor - Implied when the characters mention watching the ''Queen's'' Christmas Message in 2055.
* YouAreInCommandNow - Kivrin has to take care of a plague-stricken village (with help from Father Roche, ([[spoiler: until he dies]]).

* GentleGiant: Never stated outright, but Kivrin repeatedly describes Roche as having enormous hands, and very late in the story mentions how much smaller she is than him. Kivrin is also repeatedly struck by how patient and gentle Roche is.

* TheDungAges - Subverted: Kivrin takes a while to adjust to the idea that the Middle Ages are neither - both better and worse than she might have expected. The doctor who immunizes Kivrin offers to '''cauterize her nose''' because they think the stench will be just that overpowering.

* CorruptChurch / SaintlyChurch - On the one hand, you have the three priests who [[spoiler:infect the town with plague]], and various lay characters who misuse religion to belittle and condemn people; on the other hand, you have [[GoodShepherd Father Roche]].

* SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs - Kivrin compares Rosamund to Snow White early in the book. Later [[spoiler: after contracting the plague, Kivrin cares for her as she lies in a coma, still as death. Rosamund survives the coma, but dies days later, having taken one bite from the shiny red apple Kivrin gives her to strengthen her for their flight to Scotland.]]
* SnowWhiteAndRoseRed - Rosamund as the ladylike snow-white, Agnes as her active, slightly naughty sister Rose-Red

* CheatingWithTheMilkman - It's unclear whether it's been consummated , but Gawyn is in love with the ambivalent lady of the manner, Eliwys. The Mother-in-law seems very suspicious of these two. It's also worth mentioning how close the red-headed Gawyn is with the light-haired Agnes, who, Kivrin notes, looks nothing like her dark haired older sister Rosamund.

* CheatingWithTheMilkman - It's unclear whether it's been consummated , but Gawyn is in love with the ambivalent lady of the manner, Elinor. The Mother-in-law seems very suspicious of these two. It's also worth mentioning how close the red-headed Gawyn is with the light-haired Agnes, who, Kivrin notes, looks nothing like her dark haired older sister Rosamund.

** [[spoiler: Rosamund surviving the plague to die of malnutrition from the coma]]
** [[spoiler: the eventual understanding that Rosamund and Agnes's father is dead, as is Gawain. There's no help coming]]

* LittleRedRidingHood - Kivrin compares Agnes in her red cape to little red riding hood. Agnes does seem to have a preoccupation with the wolves in the forest. [[spoiler: Agnes may well have been infected by her hound Blackie- the first plague victim. She gets sick while looking for the dog's grave at the edge of the first in her red cloak.]]

* MedievalMorons - Referenced and averted. The actual contemps are pretty normal people, but in the future Dunworthy and Gilchrist have a pretty low opinion of them. In Dunworthy's case it's just his anxiety over the expedition expressing itself; in Gilchrist's case it's... well, because [[IdiotBall he's the moron]].

* TechnologyMarchesOn - Dunworthy's [[{{Neuromancer}} Neuromancer-esque]] quest for a land line looks rather strange in retrospect, and Brasenose's computer has a "moat" rather than a firewall.

* YeGoodeOldeDays / TheDungAges - Averted: Kivrin takes a while to adjust to the idea that the Middle Ages are neither - both better and worse than she might have expected. The doctor who immunizes Kivrin offers to '''cauterize her nose''' because they think the stench will be just that overpowering.

* GentleGiant: Never stated outright, but Kivrin repeatedly describes Roche as having enormous hands, and very late in the story mentions how much smaller she is than him. Kivrin is repeatedly struck by how patient and gentle Roche is.

* EternalEnglish: Averted.

* FaceOfAThug - Father Roche actually scares Kivrin when she sees his face.

* LittlestCancerPatient - Like Willis would really kill off the adorable Agnes and Rosamund. [[spoiler:[[{{Tearjerker}} SHE WOULD.]]]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane - An interesting case. Kivrin believes her landing during [[spoiler: the Black Death]] is a fluke, but Roche believes [[spoiler: she is an angel sent to help them in their time of need.]] Since the POV is from Kivrin, and we know [[spoiler: she's not an angel]], it's a bit more clear-cut, but still. The net works in mysterious ways.

* TwoDecadesBehind - The portrayal of Oxford in 2055 is oddly stuck in the 1970s: the characters use pound notes (removed from circulation in the 80s), try to make "trunk calls" on a telephone system that is improbably overloaded, and the colleges seem to have no central heating, modern conveniences, or administrative staff.
** But video phones are totally the rage!

* YeGoodeOldeDays / TheDungAges - Averted: Kivrin takes a while to adjust to the idea that the Middle Ages are neither - both better and worse than she might have expected.
** The doctor who immunizes Kivrin offers to '''cauterize her nose''' because they think the stench will be just that overpowering.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe - Averted; the Middle English is all correct, with the interesting twist that, despite studying it, Kivrin finds she can't understand the contemps because 2055's understanding of the pronunciation is wrong.

* ExcellentAdventure - Well, that's the plan, anyway...

** There's an echo of this during the influenza epidemic in 2050, with the stark comparison of the [[CorruptChurch preist]] from holy reform preaching the wrath of God, versus the [[SaintlyChurch vicar]] who uses the Christmas pulpit to give people information on how to avoid the flu, and what it's early symptoms are.

* LittleRedRidingHood - Kivrin compares Agnes in her red cape to little red riding hood. Agnes does seem to have a preoccupation with the wolves in the forest. [[spoiler: Agnes may well have been infected by the plague while wandering at the edge of the first in her red cape, looking for her her hound Blackie- the first plague victim.]]

* LittleRedRidingHood - Kivrin compares Agnes in her red cape to little red riding hood. Agnes does seem to have a preoccupation with the wolves in the forest. [[spoiler: Agnes may well have been infected by the plague from her hound, Blackie.]]

* CheatingWithTheMilkman - It's unclear whether it's been consummated , but Gawyn is in love with the ambivalent lady of the manner. The Mother-in-law seems very suspicious of these two. It's also worth mentioning how close the red-headed Gawyn is with the light-haired Agnes, who, Kivrin notes, looks nothing like her dark haired older sister Rosamund.

->*There's an echo of this during the influenza epidemic in 2050, with the stark comparison of the [[CorruptChurch preist]] from holy reform preaching the wrath of God, versus the [[SaintlyChurch vicar]] who uses the Christmas pulpit to give people information on how to avoid the flu, and what it's early symptoms are.

* {{SnowWhite}} - Kivrin compares Rosamund to Snow White early in the book. Later [[spoiler: after contracting the plague, Kivrin cares for her as she lies in a coma, still as death. Rosamund survives the coma, but dies days later, having taken one bite from the shiny red apple Kivrin gives her to strengthen her for their flight to Scotland.]]
* {{Snow-WhiteandRose-Red}} - Rosamund as the ladylike snow-white, Agnes as her active, slightly naughty sister Rose-Red

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane - An interesting case. Kivrin believes her landing during the Black Death is a fluke, but Roche believes she is an angel sent to help them in their time of need. Since the POV is from Kivrin, and we know she's not an angel, it's a bit more clear-cut, but still. The net works in mysterious ways.

* ItGotWorse - The lingering, awful death of [[spoiler:the clerk who brought the plague]], and the inexorable list of names that Kivrin records [[spoiler:as they die.]]

''Doomsday Book'' is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel by {{Connie Willis}}.

Like ''Literature/ToSayNothingOfTheDog'', the short story ''Fire Watch'', and the duology ''{{Blackout}}'' / ''AllClear'', ''Doomsday Book'' is set in a future version of Oxford where time-travel has become possible, but is used mostly by historians. Kivrin Engle, who studies medieval history, convinces history professor Dunworthy to send her back to the 14th century. Unfortunately, something goes (very) wrong, and Kivrin finds herself in the middle of the 1348 Black Death epidemic. Meanwhile, an equally severe influenza epidemic ravages Oxford, preventing Dunworthy from rescuing Kivrin from the Middle Ages.

Like ''{{To Say Nothing of the Dog}}'', the short story ''Fire Watch'', and the duology ''{{Blackout}}'' / ''AllClear'', ''Doomsday Book'' is set in a future version of Oxford where time-travel has become possible, but is used mostly by historians. Kivrin Engle, who studies medieval history, convinces history professor Dunworthy to send her back to the 14th century. Unfortunately, something goes (very) wrong, and Kivrin finds herself in the middle of the 1348 Black Death epidemic. Meanwhile, an equally severe influenza epidemic ravages Oxford, preventing Dunworthy from rescuing Kivrin from the Middle Ages.