I read this book on a recommendation from a co-worker and I'm now a Connie Willis fan. I can't wait to read another of her books. It was presented to me as a story about time travel - so I expected something along the sci-fi lines which is not something I would usually read. This book is a far cry from sci-fi. I couldn't put it down. I loved the characters and the back and forth between future England and Medieval England. A wonderful read.

The book starts in Oxford, England in 2048 during an attack of an unknown virus...At the same time a History Student is sent back into time to complete her doctorate. (Note: Only Historian's are able to time travel in 2048). Due to effects of the virus on the transporter, the historian is accidently, transported to 14th Century England during the Black Plague. Not only is there a struggle to get the historian returned to 2048 but she must struggle to stay alive in a villiage that is ranpant with the horrors of the plague. Death and suffering is all around her. This is a very gripping, horrific and emotional story with some of the most memorable characters. I had the feeling I was living through the black death too, it felt that real! I read this book many, many years ago and have never forgotten it. Now that Connie Willis has come out with 'BLACKOUT', the same wonderful time travelling team from Oxford, I felt I must let other reader know how wonderful this book was and believe me "Blackout" is just as fab.! If you love Time Travel you will love this book!

You will LOVE the characters, and have your heart broken by what they go through. Willis knows how to be moving but never maudlin. SO great.

The Doomsday Book is a finely crafted and extremely well researched novel. Mediaeval English society is presented as if the author had truly lived in those times. Readers are quickly and completely transported to this time through the unobtrusive use of ‘the net’. This time travel device is a tool for the author and no more. In this way the focus of the story stays on people and events, not the pseudo-science of time travel mechanics. Fourteenth and 21st Century activities are dealt with in separate chapters. Kirvin’s recorded diary and the incessant chiming of church bells link past and present. This not only reminds the reader of how isolated Kirvin is it makes a compulsively readable book even easier to enjoy. As the two story threads draw closer and closer together, the novel builds to a sobering reminder that present and past are uncannily connected. A great read for History Buffs and Science-Fiction fans alike.

A Scifi Time Travel book with REAL characters... The best I have read this year. If you want a shoot'em up adventure book look elsewhere, but if you want to be sucked into another world and feel you are there, try this one.