The Daughter of Time - Hardcover

Tey, Josephine

3.9 out of 5 stars

35,734 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1773231251 ISBN 13: 9781773231259

Publisher: Important Books, 2013

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ILLUSTRATED WITH MORE THAN TEN IMAGES RELEVANT TO THE STORY The Daughter of Time is a 1951 detective novel by Josephine Tey, concerning a modern police officer's investigation into the alleged crimes of King Richard III of England. It was the last book Tey published in her lifetime, shortly before her death. The "Daughter of Time" title is a quotation from the work of Sir Francis Bacon: "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority." Alan Grant, Scotland Yard Inspector, is feeling bored while confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. His actress friend, Marta Hallard, suggests that he should amuse himself by researching a historical mystery. She brings him some pictures of historical characters, aware of Grant's interest in human faces. The portrait of King Richard III intrigues him. He prides himself on being able to read a person's character from his appearance and King Richard seems to him a gentle, kind and wise man. Why is everyone so sure that he was a cruel murderer? With the help of other friends and acquaintances, Grant investigates Richard's life and the case of the Princes in the Tower, testing out his theories on the doctors and nurses who attend to him. Grant spends weeks pondering historical information and documents with the help of Brent Carradine, a likeable young American researcher for the British Museum. Using his detective's logic, he concludes that the claim of Richard being a murderer is a fabrication of Tudor propaganda, as is the popular image of the King as a monstrous hunchback.. Josephine Tey was the adopted pen name of Mackintosh who was born in Inverness to Colin Mackintosh and Josephine in 1896. She attended Inverness Royal Academy and then Anstey Physical Training College in Birmingham. She taught physical training at various schools in England and Scotland, but in 1926, she had to return to Inverness to care for her invalid father and began her career as a writer. Josephine was her mother's first name and Tey was the surname of an English grandmother. Josephine Tey died on February 13, 1952 Mackintosh's best-known books were written under the name of Josephine Tey. Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is the hero in five of her mystery novels and appears in her sixth novel, The Franchise Affair, as a minor character. In 1990, the British-based Crime Writers' Association selected The Daughter of Time as the greatest mystery novel of all time; The Franchise Affair was 11th on the same list of 100 books. The Daughter of Time was the last of Tey's books published during her lifetime. A further crime novel, The Singing Sands, was found in her papers and published posthumously. About a dozen one-act plays and another dozen full-length plays were written under the name of Gordon Daviot. How she chose the name of Gordon is unknown, but Daviot was the name of a scenic locale near Inverness where she had spent many happy holidays with her family. Only four of her plays were produced during her lifetime. Richard of Bordeaux was particularly successful, running for 14 months and making a household name of its young leading man and director, John Gielgud. (Humorously, Tey writes of Inspector Alan Grant that "he had in his youth seen Richard of Bordeaux; four times he had seen it".Proceeds from Tey's estate, including royalties from her books, were assigned to the National Trust.

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Review

Josephine Tey is often referred to as the mystery writer for people who don't like mysteries. Her skills at character development and mood setting, and her tendency to focus on themes not usually touched upon by mystery writers, have earned her a vast and appreciative audience. In Daughter of Time, Tey focuses on the legend of Richard III, the evil hunchback of British history accused of murdering his young nephews. While at a London hospital recuperating from a fall, Inspector Alan Grant becomes fascinated by a portrait of King Richard. A student of human faces, Grant cannot believe that the man in the picture would kill his own nephews. With an American researcher's help, Grant delves into his country's history to discover just what kind of man Richard Plantagenet was and who really killed the little princes.

About the Author

Josephine Tey began writing full-time after the successful publication of her first novel, The Man in the Queue (1929), which introduced Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard. She died in 1952, leaving her entire estate to the National Trust.

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