Connie Willis draws upon her understanding of the universalities of
human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering, and the
indomitable will of the human spirit.
**
"A tour de force."--The New York Times Book Review**
For Kivrin, preparing to travel back in time to study one of the
deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving
inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and
inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in
the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful
monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received.
But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a
bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of
superstition and fear, Kivrin--barely of age herself--finds she has
become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.