Doomsday Book

22 hrs. 59 min.

Author Connie Willis

Narrator Igor Knyazev

A student is sent with the help of a time machine from the near future into the 14th century. Of course, every researcher undergoes training, studies the era, and receives vaccinations against plague and smallpox. However, it is not always possible to arrive exactly at the right point in time and predict all events correctly. The heroine finds herself in a very difficult and dangerous situation, where she begins to keep the “Doomsday Book.” At the same time, a deadly epidemic breaks out in England in the middle of the 21st century ...

From the narrator: Many fans of time travel know and love J. Finney’s book "Time and Again." And a very substantial part of its charm is created by the detailed descriptions of the lives of people of a bygone era. Well, Connie Willis went much further down that road. With a sort of Victorian luxuriance, she creates absolutely four-dimensional pictures. Everything is detailed and unnecessary, just like in life itself. I don’t know about you, but I like that very much. However, I doubt I’m alone: by the number of the most prestigious science fiction awards, this book is among the most honored. It won the Nebula, the Hugo, and the Locus for 1993, plus another dozen and a half less prominent prizes. And the book is valuable to me not for its science fiction — there isn’t all that much of it. Rather, for the realism of the characters: the student historian Kivrin, her mentor Professor Dunworthy, the reckless boy Colin, and a whole gallery of medieval figures, among whom, it seems to me, the village priest Father Roche is portrayed with particular affection. In short, I think we won’t stop at the first book of the Oxford cycle, but will definitely continue it.

Igor Knyazev

1. Doomsday Book 2. To Say Nothing of the Dog (narrated by Igor Knyazev)