The Daughter of Time

Summary (from the publisher): Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world's most heinous villains - a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother's children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England's throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower.

 

The Daughter of Time is an ingeniously plotted, beautifully written, and suspenseful tale, a supreme achievement from one of mystery writing's most gifted masters.

 

Review: Published and set in 1951, this novel is the fifth in the Inspector Alan Grant series. In this novel, Alan Grant is in the hospital recovering from a broken leg and incredibly bored since he is unable to work due to his injury. To occupy his time, friends try to entice his interest in looking into historical mysteries and Grant is quickly captivated by the infamous mystery of the missing Princes in the Tower, who disappeared from the Tower of London in the late fifteenth century and long presumed murdered by their uncle, King Richard III. With the help of an American scholar, Grant dives into the historical record, and discovers that the allegations against Richard III don't add up and pointing to a new suspect in the famous murders.

 

Just a disclaimer that I have not read the first four books in this series, so I didn't have an established character background going in to this novel. However, this is a stand alone book in terms of plot and I had no difficulty following along.

 

Considering that all of the action of this book happens from a hospital bed, it was amazing how entertaining Tey made this novel. Grant hones in on the discrepancies in the historical record - such as the fact that the primary account from the time period was written by a man who was a small child when the murders actually took place. Grant also hones in on the otherwise extremely honorable and loyal nature of Richard III, who only after his death was accused of the murders and had his otherwise good name besmirched. It was also interesting looking at the fifteenth century through the lens of the 1950s when this was written, when research was still all done through physical books and papers in the library and a broken leg could mean a long hospital stay.

 

This was a unique spin on the bulk of historical fiction in that it puts the reader in the position of historian and detective, attempting to understand the past from the only vantage point available to us. The book also made a valuable point that history books are frequently wrong and that uncovering the past is an ongoing, fluid process rather than a record set in stone. This lesson is expertly alluded to in the title, which comes from the proverb "Truth is the daughter of time;" in the four hundred years since Richard III was accused, the truth of the Princes in the Tower has slowly emerged.

 

Stars: 4