Tag: pandemic

Author: Connie Willis

In a world with time travel, it would be only natural for it to be used to study history.

When a young historian is sent into the Middle Ages, she thinks she was prepared for anything. The medical staff treating her made sure she was inoculated against all of the nasty plagues sweeping through England, but there is no inoculation for her heart. It’s one thing to read about abusive historical customs like child brides, it’s quite another thing to see the fear in the face of a little girl you have gotten to know as she meets her “intended” for the first time.

The head historian fears sending someone to the 14th century due to the Black Death, but it’s back home at the college where a pandemic breaks out.

Reading this book post 2020, was kind of chilling. Lockdowns, people ignoring the damage done to children, the rules not applying to certain people, I found myself double checking the copyright more than once. I assure you, it was originally published in 1993, and re-released in 2023. My copy was the re-released version so I don’t know if any details where updated after the 2020 pandemic, but the plot itself couldn’t have been.

This is a very good, very sad book. I’ll tell you right now, this a story about a plague. A lot of characters die. It’s not a beach read.

I do recommend this book, but I recommend you do some soul-searching and make sure you don’t have any COVID-19-related trauma before you read this book. I didn’t think I was traumatized by COVID-19 until the plague hit the college in this book prompting lockdowns that I found myself having to take a break. I didn’t realize that I had lingering trust issues around how public institutions handle public safety until I found myself upset at how the college handled the pandemic in this book.