Science fiction writer Connie Willis is the winner of numerous Hugo and Nebula awards, including one of each for The Doomsday Book. This novel is an ingenious combination of themes such as time travel, pandemics, and faith. Her characters, whether Oxford University researchers in 2054 or English villagers in the 14th century, are fully realized individuals, with responsibilities, fears, jealousies, and loves. They will all be put to the test when tragedy strikes, and we see that, despite a 700 year time divide, people are not so different after all, in both good and bad ways. Willis also shows that, in all of history, while there may be no “safe” place or time, there is, nonetheless, beauty alongside the darkness.
The novel begins around Christmas 2054 with Kivrin, a history student, eager to time travel to the Middle Ages (1320). Her professor, Mr. Dunworthy, is concerned because Kivrin is dear to him, and acting department head Gilchrist seems to be rushing the matter. Time travel is quite doable in 2054, but the department has never gone back as far as the Middle Ages. Generally, several preliminary tests and “drops” through the net would be done before sending a human back in time, but Gilchrist is taking advantage of his status as temporary head to do it immediately. Sending Kivrin at Christmas, a holiday with known and secure dates in the Middle Ages, seems ideal, but Dunworthy foresees danger. While unable to stop the drop, he makes sure that an experienced tech named Badri oversees the process so that Kivrin will arrive when and where she should and then get back again two weeks later. Naturally, trouble develops almost immediately. Something has gone wrong with the drop, but Badri, who knows what it is, has fallen ill and is delirious. He seems to be patient zero for a pandemic which causes the college and environs to be quarantined. Meanwhile Kivrin has landed in the 14th century, but she suffers from fever and delirium as well. Discovered by a knight named Gawyn, she is taken to the village manor house of the D’Iveries to convalesce. Will she be able to find her way back to the drop site in two weeks?
This novel is absolutely thrilling to read. The two story lines had me on the edge of my seat. In 2054, Dunworthy and his friend Dr. Mary Ahrens are in a race against time to discover both the source of the outbreak and the fate of Kivrin. The Christmas break, quarantine and fear of contamination effectively prevent any technicians from returning to the lab to see whatever it is Badri saw. Complicating this further are Gilchrist, who refuses to consider the possibility of anything going wrong (and if it did, it’s Dunworthy’s fault); Mrs. Gaddson, an annoyingly doting mother who “comforts” the afflicted by reading to them about the Final Judgment; the American bell ringers’ troupe who have come to perform and must practice, even in quarantine; and Dr. Ahrens’ 12-year-old great-nephew Colin, who has come for a visit and ends up living with Dunworthy in quarantine. Colin refers to all that is awesome as “apocalyptic” and all that is not as “necrotic,” which starts out funny but ends up being a little too close to reality as the story progresses.
Meanwhile, in the 14th century, Kivrin finds herself gravely ill and weak in a household of women. The lord of the manor and his sons are in Bath, at court, perhaps in some sort of legal trouble. Lord Guillaume has sent his wife Eliwys, mother Imeyne and two daughters Rosamund (12) and Agnes (5) with his knight Gawyn to the manor for safety and with strict instructions to stay there and make contact with no one. Kivrin, or Lady Katherine, for her dress and belongings indicate a lady of some standing, pretends to have no memory of whence she came; Gawyn found her injured in the woods, so it seems she was set upon by brigands. But the household can do nothing until Lord Guillaume arrives. Eliwys seems distracted but patiently awaits her husband. Gawyn brags and tries to impress Eliwys. Agnes adores Kivrin, while Rosamund frets about her father and her future (for good reason). Imeyne looks for trouble and puts special focus on Roche, the village priest. He is a somewhat shabby and uneducated man but pious and kind. As the household prepares for Christmas, Imeyne defies her son’s instruction and makes contact with another lord’s household, setting off a series of events that will have terrible impact on everyone. Kivrin, in the meantime, is trying to do her job as an historian, observing her surroundings and recording her observations into a device implanted in her wrist. She is also desperately trying to figure out where her drop spot is so that she can be there at the appointed time.
Willis does a wonderful job showing parallels between these two seemingly disparate worlds. In both, we find people dealing with communication breakdown, separation, and being forced to wait. Eliwys and her household are stuck at the manor and waiting for Guillaume, unsure of what is happening to him. In 2054, phones are down, roads closed, movement is restricted due to the pandemic. Being unable to get through to someone is very frustrating, whether it’s because phones aren’t working or the person is unable to understand due to illness or the person is unwilling to understand due to pride and stupidity.
Willis also shows the reader overlapping personality types across time. Colin and Rosamund, both 12 years old, have parents who seem absent from their lives and unconcerned with their well being; the two children are forced to deal with matters that are rather adult for their young ages. Gaddson, Gilchrest and Lady Imeyne are the types of people who are jealous, proud, and eager to blame others for the troubles they face. Dr. Ahrens and Roche take their responsibility toward their patients or flock very seriously, risking their own well being out of a sense of selfless duty. And then there is the relationship between Kivrin and Dunworthy, which is similar to a child/parent or even a human (Roche)/God relationship. Dunworthy loves Kivrin as if she were his daughter. When she is “lost” and Dunworthy cannot get to the net to make contact, he wonders if this is not similar to what happened between God and His son, sent to earth, contact lost and then arrest and crucifixion.
Faith is a powerful theme of this novel, which I find interesting and maybe a little surprising for science fiction. Kivrin, despite the separation of 700 years, feels that she is somehow connected still to Dunworthy. When she speaks into her corder, it is almost like she is praying to him. She knows he is out there somewhere and that he has not abandoned her. Roche possesses a similar great faith in God. The relationship between Kivrin and Roche is beautifully written. Each struggles with faith, each shoulders responsibility, each tries to support the other. Their final scenes together are a punch to the tear ducts.
This is simply a stunning novel. Willis provides wonderful details about the Middle Ages while imagining a future not too different from today but with time travel technology. Most importantly, though, she writes with compassion about the human condition, regardless of century.