History Literature / DoomsdayBook

* 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!

Meanwhile in the Middle Ages, an ill Kivrin is rescued and taken to a small time noble manor. After being nursed back to health, she becomes a nurse to an energetic young girl called Agnes and her stern older sister Rosemund. She manages to record everything she sees and does into a cleverly disguised corder. She calls it her Doomsday Book, named after Dunworthy's pessimistic warnings. However, her mentor wasn't just telling her such things for the sake of his own peace of mind: something is off about the year Kivrin has entered. If she doesn't figure out what year she traveled to in time, it won't only be her life that's in danger.

** The 14th century village of Skendgate is supposed to be located "near Witney" and not far off "the Oxford-Bath road." One look at a map and you'd wonder why a road from Oxford to Bath would go so far out west.

* 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.]]

In 2054, historians are using time travel in order to better understand the past. Kivrin Engle is one such historian, and a dedicated one too. She's taken lessons in Middle English and Latin, gotten her hands dirty, learned how to make textiles, and much more in order to better fit in with Middle Age civilians. Her mentor, Dunworthy, is vehemently against her going, never letting up his warnings about cutthroats, theives, and rapists. Even as she prepares for the drop, Kivrin keeps downplaying the danger up until she's finally in 1320.

Meanwhile in the Middle Ages, an ill Kivrin is rescued and taken to a small time noble manor. After being nursed back to health, she becomes a nurse to an energetic young girl called Agnes and her stern older sister Rosemund. She manages to record everything she sees and does into a cleverly disguised corder. She calls it her Doomsday Book, named after Dunworthy's pessimistic warnings. However, her mentor wasn't just telling her such things for the sake of his own peace of mind: something is off about the year Kivrin has entered, and it isn't only her life that's in danger if she doesn't figure out what it is in time.

''Doomsday Book'' is a 1992 sci-fi time travel novel by Connie Willis. It takes place in the same universe as ''Literature/ToSayNothingOfTheDog'', ''Literature/{{Blackout}}''/''All Clear'', and the short story ''Fire Watch''.

* ApocalypticLog: The appropriately named Doomsday Book.

* 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: 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...]]
* CorruptChurch / SaintlyChurch:

** There's an echo of this during the influenza epidemic in 2050, with the stark comparison of the [[CorruptChurch priest]] 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 its early symptoms are.

* DeathOfAChild: Tends to happen every so often.

* 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 its reins 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.]]

* 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.]]

* ParentalSubstitute: Dunworthy, who is Kivrin's tutor.
* ThePlague: Both the Black Death, and influenza.
* PlotParallel: The pandemics in both times.

* RedHerring: From snippets of overheard conversation Kivrin assumes the current living circumstances of her hosts (holed up in their smallest holding, no servants and 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.]]
* RightForTheWrongReasons: Gilchrist argues that [[spoiler: the flu virus from 1319 is the same one causing the present-day epidemic.]] His reasons for saying this are irrational and blatantly self-interested, but he's actually right. [[spoiler: The virus did come from 1319, but not through the net. It took TheSlowPath, sitting dormant in a tomb until Badri and Montoya dug it up.]]

** William Gaddson's sexual conquests

** The 14th century village of Skendgate is supposed to be located 'near Witney' and not far off 'the Oxford-Bath road'. One look at a map and you'd wonder why a road from Oxford to Bath would go so far out west.

* TimeTravel: "The Net," a system used to send people into the past, and can pick them up, if they're in the right place.

* 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).

In 2054, historians are using time travel in order to better understand the past. Kivrin Engle is one such historian, and a dedicated one too. She's taken lessons in Middle English and Latin, gotten her hands dirty, and much more in order to better fit in with Middle Age civilians. Her mentor, Dunworthy, is vehemently against her going, never letting up his warnings about cutthroats, theives, and rapists. Even as she prepares for the drop, Kivrin keeps downplaying the danger up until she's finally in 1320.