Generally
categorized as a mystery, Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time
appeals to a wide audience. Those interested in history, particularly
British history, find a carefully reasoned exoneration of the "evil
hunchback" uncle, King Richard III, who supposedly murdered his two
nephews to secure the throne for himself. General readers find a
message: don't trust everything that you read in even "authoritative"
sources. ("Truth is the daughter of time," reads an "old proverb" on an
introductory page.)
And for lovers of mysteries, the novel is considered one of the genre's
best ever, a police procedural with the unusual twist that the
investigation is done from the policeman's hospital bed.
Inspector Alan Grant is laid up from an on-the-job injury and bored.
Knowing Grant is interested in faces, a friend brings him a package of
famous portraits. In the face that intrigues him the most he sees
conscientiousness — a judge perhaps — not villainy.
He is surprised to discover the portrait is of Richard III.
With nothing better to do as he recuperates, Grant has people
bring him
old history books so that he can learn more about the mysterious crime
involving the last king from the House of York. But, with his
detective's instincts, Grant senses a bias in what he reads. He learns
that there were no contemporary histories and that Thomas More,
considered the
authoritative source, took his
"facts" from an enemy of Richard's.
Grant conducts his criminal investigation with the help of an American
researcher who scours 15th-century documents. He discovers that the boys' mother remained on good terms with
Richard, and that Henry VII, who seized the throne from Richard, never
accused his predecessor of the murder. Not only does Grant conclude
that Richard III has been unfairly villified, he also offers his own
opinion about who disposed of the princes.
For the record, what happened the boys has never been resolved with
certainty; they were sent to the Tower of London and disappeared. The Richard III Society, "dedicated to . . . a reassessment
of the reputation of Richard III," devotes a page to Tey (aka Elizabeth
MacKintosh) on its web site. "The Daughter of Time (1951) brought the
controversy surrounding Richard III and the Princes in the Tower to a
wide public audience and is perhaps the most popular defense of
Richard," it says.
.
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