The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey Book  1951 Rating: B/B+

The Daughter of Time is the last mystery Josephine Tey wrote, and it's a different sort of mystery, as the detective on the "case" is solving a mystery of history and the only clues are those found in the historical record. 

Det. Alan Grant is laid up in the hospital with an injury, bored out of his mind.  In an attempt to keep him entertained his friend Marta brings by a stack of pictures of famous figures involved in unsolved historical mysteries.  Flipping through them, he comes to one he doesn't recognize.  Looking at the face, he instinctively senses a innate nobility in it and is dismayed when he finds out it's Richard III, England's greatest villain.  Alan trusts his detective instincts, so he decides to browse through the history books and refresh his memory of the case against this man who killed his own nephews and betrayed his nation for power and advantage.

What he finds confuses him.  Historians content to praise Richard's character and abilities before the death of his brother Edward; seemingly he was able and behaved with loyalty and integrity - until his brother, the king, died.  But during the period of his regency and reign, that was when he apparently degenerated into a monster.  Alan finds this inconsistent and wants to do some further digging.  Fortunately, through Marta he also meets Brent Carradine, an American researcher who is willing to do the legwork for him.  Brent goes back further, searching the record for accounts by Richard's contemporaries and looking to see if the portrait of Richard changed dramatically at any point.   What Brent finds is even more strange.  It's what makes this book so very interesting.  

It's been over fifty years since Tey wrote this book, and, as anyone knows, how history views any one individual is a fluid and changing thing.  So I'm not sure what current historians make of Richard III, though a short web search reveals that there are differing opinions.  But though this is a novel and Tey makes no claim to be an academic or historian, the case she (via Alan and Brent) presents in Richard's favor is very convincing.  To put things in context, several other cases of historical propaganda or cover-up are mentioned, and these are interesting too.   It makes you as a reader question what of history is really true and what is taught to you as propaganda - a way of making you fall into line with a particular agenda.  Or is truth merely subjective?  Can it truly be ferreted out after so many centuries have passed and so much evidence has been lost to time?

Richard is a fascinating character, and the reader can't help but wonder what would have happened had he survived the Battle of Bosworth and England been spared the Tudors.  To contextualize his reign, Tey explains the War of the Roses in a concise but understandable way and breathes a little life into a war I've personally never really understood.  It's the rare book that makes me pour through my Encyclopaedia Brittanicas, but this one accomplished it.  I wanted to learn more - both about Richard and those who came before and after him.  I wanted Richard to be noble, perhaps just for the sheer unlikelihood of discovering a truly noble noble. 

I've read The Daughter of Time twice now, and each time I've found it both readable and fascinating.  I wish I could find more well written books about historical mysteries.  They seem to be few and far between.  If the above sounds interesting, do search this one out.  And if you've read this one and, like me, wouldn't mind reading more mysteries of history, I would also recommend Ghost Ship: the Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and her Missing Crew by Brian Hicks.

tags: books  mysteries