Page "Doomsday Book (novel)" Paragraph 3

Shortly after sending Kivrin to the 14th century, Badri Chaudhuri, the technician who set the time travel coordinates for Kivrin's trip, collapses suddenly, an early victim of a deadly new influenza epidemic which severely disrupts the university and eventually leads to the entire city being quarantined.

Infected with the same influenza despite her enhanced immune system, Kivrin falls ill as she arrives in the past.

She awakens after several days of fever and delirium at a nearby manor, whose residents have nursed her.

Unfortunately, the move has caused her to lose track of where the " drop point " is ; in order to return home, she must return to the exact location where she arrived when the gateway opens at a prearranged time.