Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78984 in Books
• Published on: 1993-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 592 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Connie Willis laboured five years on this story of a history student in 2048 who is transported to an English village in the 14th century. The student arrives mistakenly on the eve of the onset of the Black Plague. Her dealings with a family of "contemps" in 1348 and with her historian cohorts lead to complications as the book unfolds into a surprisingly dark, deep conclusion. The book, which won Hugo and Nebula Awards, draws upon Willis' understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering and the indomitable will of the human spirit.

Synopsis
Journeying back in time to the year 1320, twenty-first century Oxford woman Kivrin arrives during the outbreak of a deadly epidemic.

Customer Reviews

Living history
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Kivrin, a time-travelling historian, is mistakenly sent back to a Medieval village near Oxford as the Black Death is about to strike, and sees all around her succumb to the Plague. At the same time, in her home time, a flu pandemic is laying waste to Oxford, stopping any attempts to find her and bring her home. Unlikely as it may sound, this novel also contains some wonderful comic moments - William, Mrs Gaddson, Finch and the American bellringers, to name but a few. I am absolutely caught up in this story and unable to put it down every time I read it.

Once you start, you can't put the book down.
The evocation of the sheer nastiness of the 14th Century is brilliant. There is mounting horror as the natives of that century succumb to the Black Death over a Christmas period, witnessed by the appalled time-travelling scholar from our own near future. Some of the scenes are heartrending, as there is plenty of time to get attached to the characters before they start to become ill.

In alternate chapters the contemporary situation in Oxford at Christmas is explored, where an outbreak of highly contagious and fatal flu has broken out, thereby preventing a rescue party from setting up the equipment necessary for retrieving the scholar. The quarantine, medicalisation and bureaucracy of the situation in contemporary Oxford contrasts sharply with the superstition, dubious medicines and appeals to the Almighty that exemplify the 14th Century.

If it sounds unrelentingly grim; it isn't. There is a lot of humour, with fun being poked at characters who are vain and officious in BOTH centuries.

Anyone who has lived in/ studied in/ visited Oxford will find much to recognise in the description of the town, especially the University. Immerse yourself in this book over a summer's day, and you will surface from it as I did: wondering why it isn't freezing cold and surprised to find that you're still healthy!

Highly Recommended
Whether you are into fantasy or historical fiction this book should have something for you, though I feel it belongs more in the latter category than the former if you were to try and categorise it in just one box. I read this, enjoyed it and have recommended it numerous times. Each time the person I recommended it to thanked me as they also thoroughly enjoyed it.

The fantasy/sci-fi plot may be a little contrived in order to get a modern view on a historic tragedy, but the writing is of high quality, moving, and historically informative. It's a moody piece that helps you understand what it must have been like to live during the tragic years when the Black Death was raging through the English countryside wreaking havoc amongst the insular communities.

I'm not sure that the particular storyline about an epidemic in the modern world was totally necessary, as this did prove a little distracting, but I suspect it was meant as a comparison piece to contrast with the events of the past also being played out.

Criticism is a subjective process. I would therefore urge you to give this book a try as I suspect most of you may well enjoy it.