The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
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Book Reviews of The Daughter of Time
Book Review: History is always written by the victors
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a fascinating read by Josephine Tey. It is the story of Alan Grant, a policeman with Scotland Yard, who is laid up in the hospital after being injured on the job. A friend brings in a portrait of Richard III and he has a hard time believing that the man in the picture is the horrible, nephew murdering hunchback that he is familiar with. This sparks his interest and to relieve his boredom he takes up the 400+ year old case of Richard III - did he or did he not murder his nephews in the Tower? He and an American researcher working in the British Museum sort through all the evidence they can get and look at the case through a policeman's perspective - considering motives, opportunities, written accounts from the times, looking for breaks in the normal routine of the main players, etc. Grant becomes convinced that, based on the evidence, that Richard did not murder his nephews. In fact, he had absolutely nothing to gain and quite a bit to loose if he did.
It should be mentioned that Tey is writing a work of fiction here so I'm sure some things that didn't fit into her story were most likely left out. But that aside, it is an intriguing look at a man who history has made out to be a horrible monster. One of the points Grant realizes (and probably the biggest) is that, basically, history is written by the victors. Anything that might make them, the victors, look bad is going to be changed and anything that can discredit the vanquished will be trumped up as much as possible.
Some of the evidence/points that Grant comes across:
1. The accepted history of Richard III was written by Thomas More who was about 8 when Richard was killed AND he was writing for a Tudor King. He certainly wasn't going to publish anything that would make Henry VIII's father look bad. Also, a lot of his information apparently came from a certain John Morton, who hated Richard. (It should be noted that Shakespeare used More's account of Richard's life when writing his play Richard III, which most people today base their idea of Richard on.)
2. Richard had declared all of Edward's children illegitimate but there were still several heirs in line ahead of him and they continued to live happy lives during his reign. No reason to do away with just two of the heirs between him and the throne and leave all the others.
3. When Henry VII was having all of Richard's crimes laid out never once was the murder of the Princes mentioned. He wasn't even accused of it.
4. After Richard took the throne, Elizabeth Woodville came out of sanctuary, her daughters went to Richard's court, and she wrote to one of her Grey sons in France to come home because Richard would be kind to him. Would she have done this if she thought Richard killed her sons?
5. Henry VII, to bolster his claim to the throne after killing Richard, married Elizabeth of York, the sister of the Princes in the Tower. To make her claim to the throne valid, he had to make her (and ALL her siblings) legitimate. Once he did that, her brother was the rightful King again.
These are just a few of the points Grant considers when he finally comes to his verdict at the end. Some of the information Tey puts into her story certainly will make you think about what you accept as history, especially in a case such as Richard's. I do wish the story had been longer and more detail given about some of the evidence presented but I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Richard III.
Book Review: recovering Richard
Summary: 4 Stars
The Daughter of Time is an historical mystery structured as an investigation by a bored and bed-bound detective, contemplating a portrait of Richard III.
The title of this book is itself something of a mystery - who is the daughter? The mystery revolves around Richard III, his brother Edward IV, his cousin Henry VII, and the nephews Richard was blamed for murdering. The story is told in the male voices of detective Alan Grant and his research assistant Brent Carradine. Josephine Tey opens her book with a proverb attributed to Aulus Gellius: "truth is the daughter of time." So the title is ostensibly nothing but an irrelevant personification. But reader will notice that much of the story development relies on snippets from "The Rose of Raby," a fictional biography of Cicely Neville, the mother of Edward IV and Richard III. "The Rose of Raby" is Ms. Tey's own invention. It is tempting to suppose that her original intention was to write a romantic history of a woman who raised both the best and worst of Kings (Edward vs. Richard). This intention would have been sidetracked when her research proved that the popularized villainy of Richard was nothing but the well-publicized slander of Henry Tudor.
I note that in 2002 C. L. Grace published a derivative detective story titled "La Rose de Raby."
Nevertheless, the story is compelling even for the modern reader who expects a more naturalistic treatment of history and the American reader who has no natural respect for royalty.
And the title of this review? The cover illustration on my copy of this book is appropriately a mirror image of the National Gallery portrait that is the subject of the story.
Book Review: If I could have given this book 4.5 stars, I would have.
Summary: 4 Stars
Detective Grant of Scotland Yard is laid up in the hospital with a broken leg and wounded hip. In an attempt to alleviate his boredom, a friend brings him portraits of different historical figures that have unsolved mysteries surrounding them. He's fascinated by one portrait in particular - a man with a face full of suffering. Shocked to discover that it is Richard III, the Beast who murdered his nephews in order to secure his right to the throne, Grant embarks on a full-scale historical investigation to uncover the truth surrounding this atrocity.
This book was slow to start, but once Grant was engaged with uncovering the mystery, it was like an avalanche. The story completely swept me away. I have to admit that despite being a history major, I successfully avoided most of the British and European history classes offered by my college. (I specialized in Middle Eastern history.) Because of this, I don't know how much credence to lend Josephine Tey's theory of what really occurred, but the evidence laid out in this little book seems very compelling. Whether she's right or not, she successfully lit a fire under me to pick up some Brit history. Double win!
Well-thought out, interesting book. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Book Review: Daughter of Time
Summary: 4 Stars
I ordered two copies of the Daughter of Time for gifts. They arrived promptly and were in good condition.Book Review: Rewriting history
Summary: 3 Stars
It is an unique idea of digging into the historical crime of accused murderer King Richard and discovering the truth through factual records and the reports of people living at the time and it was well written but personally I couldn't work up a lot of enthusiasm about it.
Honestly, most Americans have only a passing familiarity with English royalty and even less with their interwoven families and unless you are familiar with these people and CARE about who did what to whom and why the book becomes tedious very quickly.
Now if it had been about whether George Washington really had chopped down the cherry tree or whether it was really a wheeping willow and his cousin who framed him for the arborcide then maybe I could have worked up more interest.
I don't mean to belittle the murder of the princes but we don't have any parallel crime in our history that I could have compared it to.
So unless you are a British history buff I would give this one a pass.