Hugo Award Best Novel Winner

Doomsday Book

by Connie Willis

Summary

A history student named Kivrin time travels from a near future Oxford to the medieval English countryside, only to land closer to the Black Death than anyone intended. Willis cuts between the plague stricken past and a modern epidemic gripping Oxford, drawing devastating parallels across the centuries. The novel combines meticulous historical detail with profound compassion for people facing mass death.

Historical Context & Significance

Doomsday Book tied with Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep for the 1993 Hugo and also won the Nebula Award the same season.