History Literature / DoomsdayBook

* GoodShepherd: Roche.

* AssholeVictim: While far from being actively evil, [[spoiler:Gilchrist]] is a ''massively'' incompetent administrator who takes too big risks for the sake of academic glory, [[NeverMyFault refuses to take any responsibility when things go wrong]] and essentially [[spoiler:dooms Kivrin to dying in the Middle Ages due to his unwavering belief in a TimeTravel-related source of the influenza virus, which is something stated to be ''scientifically impossible''.]] So it's kind of hard to mourn him when [[spoiler:said virus]] ends up killing him.
* TheBlackDeath: A big part of the plot.

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: As Dunworthy's guilt over sending Kivrin on a botched drop grows, he explicitly compares Kivrin to Christ on the cross.

* TemporalParadox: Averted; the "net" simply won't let you travel to a time and place where you might change history. [[spoiler: Which is why Kivrin ends up in the middle of the Black Death - none of the people she meets will live long enough for her presence to make a difference.]]
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Kivrin had to learn to spin to go; with a spindle, not a spinning wheel.

* UnexpectedSuccessor: Implied when the characters mention watching the ''Queen's'' Christmas Message in 2055.

* WriteBackToTheFuture: Discussed but eventually subverted. When it appears that Kivrin will be stuck in the past forever due to the net being shut down, [[spoiler:Montoya informs Dunworthy she's going through the graves at the dig site hoping she will find Kivrin's body with her recorder still attached (disguised as a bone spur on her wrist) and that she and Kivrin had discussed this possibility before she traveled.]] Likewise Kivrin towards the end [[spoiler:assumes she'll never return and states she's going to try and find a way for her recorder (and her body) to be found.]]

* YouAreInCommandNow: Kivrin has to take care of a plague-stricken village (with help from Father Roche, [[spoiler: until he dies]]).
* KidSidekick: Colin to Dunworthy. Appropriately, his catch-phrases are ''apocalyptic'' and ''necrotic''.

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

Like ''Literature/ToSayNothingOfTheDog'', the short story ''Fire Watch'', and the duology ''Literature/{{Blackout}}'' / ''All Clear'', ''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.

Not to be confused with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book Domesday Book]].

!!Tropes:

* AdultFear: Pretty much the whole thing.
** Dunworthy's constant worrying about Kivrin, his pupil.
** [[spoiler:Agnes screaming for Kivrin to come as she dies, too feverish to recognize her.]]
** [[spoiler:The eventual understanding that Rosamund and Agnes's father is dead, as is Gawyn. There's no help coming.]]

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: As Dunworthy's guilt over sending Kivrin on botched drop grows, he explicitly compares Kivrin to Christ on the cross.

* MeaningfulName: Kivrin's last name is Engle, and some of the villagers think she's an angel from heaven. Her interpreter initially mistranslates Roche as Rock, and Roche is a source of support for the villagers (except Imeyne). "Agnes" means "lamb", and [[spoiler: near the end she dies along with the rest of the village and Kivrin compares it to the biblical slaughter of the innocents.]]

* KidSidekick: Colin to Dunworthy. Appropriately, his catch-phrases are "apocalyptic" and "necrotic".

* 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.]]

* AssholeVictim: While far from being actively evil, [[spoiler:Gilchrist]] is a ''massively'' incompetent administrator who takes too big risks for the sake of academic glory, [[NeverMyFault refuses to take any responsibility when things go wrong]] and essentially [[spoiler:dooms Kivrin to dying in the Middle Ages due to his unwavering belief in a TimeTravel-related source of the virus, which is something stated to be ''scientifically impossible''.]] So it's kind of hard to mourn him when [[spoiler:said virus]] ends up killing him.

* YouAreInCommandNow: Kivrin has to take care of a plague-stricken village (with help from Father Roche, ([[spoiler: until he dies]]).

* AnyoneCanDie: It's a story where part of the plot takes place in the Middle Ages, what did you expect? [[spoiler: And if you expected that everyone in the present timeline is safe, you got another thing coming...]]

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Nope.]]

* 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.

* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Kivrin had to learn to spin to go:- with a spindle, not a spinning wheel.

** To "Literature/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.]]
** To "Literature/SnowWhiteAndRoseRed": Rosamund as the ladylike snow-white, Agnes as her active, slightly naughty sister Rose-Red

* BolivianArmyEnding: The reader never does find out what happened to many of the off-screen contemps.

* [[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...]]

* 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".

* DyingAlone: The likely fate of Gawyn after he is sent off by Eliwys to find and bring back her husband. [[spoiler:A bit over a week later Dunworthy and Colin arrive back in time to rescue Kivrin and find Gawyn's horse alone in the nearby forest half-starved with it's reigns caught up in the bushes, still fully saddled but no sign of the rider. They briefly discuss how the horse came to be there; for the reader the implication is that Gawyn was already infected when he left and fell off only a handful of miles from the village. If the fall didn't kill him, the plague and/or exposure to the elements would have.]]

* DyingAlone: The most likely fate of Gawyn after he is sent off by Eliwys to find and bring back Lord Guillaume. [[spoiler:A week later Dunworthy and Colin arrive back in time to rescue Kivrin and find Gawyn's horse alone in the nearby forest half-starved with it's reigns caught up in the bushes, still fully saddled but no sign of the rider. They briefly discuss how the horse came to be there; for the reader the implication is that Gawyn was already infected and fell off barely a handful of miles from the village and if the fall didn't kill him, the plague and/or exposure to the elements would have.]]

* ForDoomtheBellTolls: The abbreviated funeral rites instituted for the Black Death require that the church bell be tolled after each burial: nine times for a man, thrice for a woman and once for a child. [[spoiler:Professor Dunworthy finally finds Kivrin while she is tolling the bell for Father Roche.]]

* RedHerring: From snippets and overheard conversations Kivrin assumes the current living circumstances of her hosts (no servants, holed up in their smallest holding, limited resources, not wanting anyone to know they are there) is due to the trial Eliwys' husband is testifying for in Bath which may have landed them in trouble. [[spoiler: Only later does she realise it's 1348 and the Black Death is sweeping the country; they were sent to their smallest holding to minimise contact with anyone else and try and escape the plague.]]

** [[spoiler:The eventual understanding that Rosamund and Agnes's father is dead, as is Gawain. There's no help coming.]]

* LanguageDrift: Played straight. As part of her preparations for traveling to the 14th century Kivrin is required to learn Middle English, plus also Latin and Norman French. In addition she has a translator installed which is supposed to automatically translate the words she hears plus her own speech when she talks. [[spoiler: Things go awry almost immediately - the Middle English she learnt is totally off on pronunciation which the contemps cannot understand and it takes several days for the translator to build up enough vocabulary to start translating for her (she at least does manage to use some Latin with Father Roche). It's not helped that in the time period there are separate dialects of Middle English in use - the upper classes have a French-syle inflection in their speech whereas the peasantry (such as Maisry) still have a Saxon-influenced dialect.]]

* DyingAlone: The most likely fate of Gawyn. [[spoiler:With the plague beginning to ravage the village Eliwys sends Gawyn off on his black stallion to bring her husband Lord Guillaume back to her. A few days later Dunworthy and Colin arrive back in time to rescue Kivrin and find the stallion alone in the nearby forest with it's reigns caught up in the bushes, still fully saddled but no sign of the rider. They briefly discuss how the horse came to be there; for the reader the implication is that Gawyn was already infected and fell off barely a handful of miles from the village and if the fall didn't kill him, the plague and/or exposure to the elements would have.]]

* DyingAlone: The most likely fate of Gawyn. [[spoiler:With the plague beginning to ravage the village Eliwys sends Gawyn off on his black stallion to bring her husband Lord Guillaume back to her. A few days later Dunworthy and Colin arrive back in time to rescue Kivrin and find the stallion alone in the nearby forest with it's reigns caught up in the bushes, still fully saddled but no signs of the rider. They briefly discuss how the horse came to be there; for the reader the implication is that Gawyn fell off barely a handful of miles from the village and if the fall didn't kill him, exposure to the elements would have.]]

* QuieterThanSilence: During her time in the 14th century Kivrin makes numerous remarks about the bells that can be heard from the neighbouring villages. Once [[spoiler:the plague]] arrives however the bells start to be heard increasingly randomly [[spoiler:(likely signifying people are dying)]], and then near the end of the novel abruptly stop. Father Roche comments that he hopes [[spoiler:it's a sign that the plague has ended]]; Kivrin however suspects [[spoiler:the bishop has ordered for the bells not to be rung lest they scare everyone, or worse that everyone has already succumbed to the plague.]]