By Connie Willis
Publish yr note: First released in 1992
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For Kivrin, getting ready an on-site research of 1 of the deadliest eras in humanity's background was once so simple as receiving inoculations opposed to the illnesses of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a girl touring on my own. For her teachers within the twenty-first century, it intended painstaking calculations and cautious tracking of the rendezvous position the place Kivrin will be received.
But a quandary surprisingly linking earlier and destiny strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows test desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and worry, Kivrin--barely of age herself--finds she has develop into an not likely angel of desire in the course of certainly one of history's darkest hours.
Five years within the writing by way of one in every of technological know-how fiction's such a lot venerated authors, Doomsday Book is a storytelling triumph. Connie Willis attracts upon her figuring out of the universalities of human nature to discover the ageless problems with evil, anguish, and the indomitable will of the human spirit.
Literary Awards
Hugo Award for most sensible Novel (1993)
Nebula Award for most sensible Novel (1992)
Locus Award for most sensible technology Fiction Novel (1993)
Mythopoeic fable Award Nominee for grownup Literature (1993)
Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for overseas Novel (1994)
Read or Download Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel, Book 1) PDF
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Additional resources for Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel, Book 1)
Example text
He pushed the door to after him, and eased the great latch soundlessly into place. The peg—Matthew Smith had never realised what manner of illicit tool he was providing—he drew out and pocketed, for the sight of it protruding would have been enough to launch the hounds after him, and how did he know the watchman had not been given orders to keep an eye on his room? It would be his father who first came to visit him in exile in the morning, he was quite sure of that; somewhat uneasy in mind after sleeping on his rage, inclined to regret that he had carried execution to such lengths, and firmly resolved this time to be gentle and patient with the obdurate boy, but he would end up by beating him again, of course.
He was crying now; he wished she would go, and yet he could not bear to let her go. He kissed her warm cheek, and took away his arms almost roughly, dropping into the pillow again with a great sigh. When she stooped over him, peering at him closely, he kept his eyelids half-closed, and breathed long and softly, as though he were already slipping into drowsiness. Satisfied, she kissed his brow, and withdrew with the lamp, closing the door gently after her. As soon as she was gone he opened his eyes again, and they were dry and bright and wide-awake.
All that was over. A hush of curiosity, sympathy and almost pleasurable excitement followed him through the hall. The men-at-arms paused over their dice as he threaded his way through the romping dogs in the rushes, and climbed the stairs to the solar. He looked at no one. Only a little while ago their knowing sympathy would have galled him to the quick, but now it had ceased to be of any importance. "Wipe your face," whispered Ebrard at the door. " He thrust his own kerchief into Harry's hand, and waited for him to scrub the filth of dust and tears from his cheeks.