The novel “Daughter of Time” written by Josephine Tey and published by ‘Simon and Schuster’ is one of the most interesting literary works well-disguised as a novel. The classic, published in the year 1951 for the first time dates back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and gives an account of Richard III . The story has a fascinating plot with likeable characters. The most interesting part of the book is the way Tey presents history in the form of a mystery. She portrays history as a science, which involves a constant effort to analyze and learn from the truth rather a mere recitation of names, places, dates and facts . The best part of the book is that it is a detective novel in which the protagonist does not belong to the contemporary period of the crime. The book best fits into the genre of historical mysteries. The entire novel happens in a single hospital room.
As the title of the book comes from the proverb “Truth is the daughter of time,” the author challenges the idea that Richard was a cruel villain who murdered the Princes. Instead, Tey presents Richard III as an entirely different man. The dialog and narration exclusively impress the readers and pose an intellectual puzzle. The plot starts with the hero of the book, Grant, an inspector, who directs his interest to studying the faces of history on a hospital bed with a broken leg . Grant’s friend Marta, who is familiar with Grant’s skills of analyzing faces bring him a pile of historical figures from the British National Gallery. The portraits brought by Marta have one thing in common, which is mystery. After a thorough analysis, Grant finally selects a portrait of “a man dressed in velvet cap and slashed doublet of the late fifteenth century” .
Shocked to discover the historical figure as Richard III, Grant tries to remember the crime from his school days. “It was shocking how little history remained with one after a good education” . After getting to know that Richard III killed his nephews, Grant wonders how he could be wrong at judging Richard III by his face. The Daughter of Time doesn’t just confine to Richard III and his nephews, but contains stories that are as fictional as a novel. Grant starts to investigate the mystery of the princes and looks into the evidence found in the letters, laws and account books with the help of a young researcher . Based on the testimony of a witness, Grant ponders questions about the motives of the author and verifies information in the best possible way regardless of the facts. In simple words, Grant investigates the murders similar to a modern day criminal case.
Grant, having a fair amount of mobility, interviews the nurses at the hospital and a couple of outside visitors to learn about Richard and his history. Tey created the characters that come and go from the hospital room to merely pose arguments for and against the crime committed by Richard III. Grant along with the young researcher Carradine digs up more information about the crime and finally arrive at a conclusion about the more likely murderer who killed the nephews of Richard . Carradine, a friend of Marta assists Grant in gathering the information from the British Museum regarding the historical facts in the murder of the princes in the tower. The story appears to be a rapid-fire conversation when Grant and Carradine discuss the various aspects of the murder. Grant declares the successor of Richard III, Henry VII as the real culprit . The discovery of Richard’s bones raises a question in the readers as to what actually happened to the princes.
Grant’s theory depends on the impression that no one during the lifetime of Richard considered that anything had happened to the princes. Instead of giving a long treatise about Richard's motives, Tey discusses the personality of Richard as a man of respect and loyalty to the king . Grant tries to make an investigation of where Richard was during the period after the death of his brother. The novel impresses the fans of both detective fiction as well as English history. There are certain aspects of the book that leave a scar. Tey includes several excerpts in the novel that belong to the historical times, which break the charm of the book. Also, Tey includes all the events that happened before and after the murder of Richard III’s nephews, which is more information for a reader . Some aspects of the book confuse the readers and require re-reading due to the complex links between people in the history. However, the ending picks up a great pace in terms of suspense.
In my opinion, “Daughter of Time” is worth-reading as it presents a view of humanity irrespective of the facts of history. The book stands out in the crowd of historical novels and sparks a desire to restore the character of Richard III. The most impressive part of the book is that author Tey does not view it from a historian point of view instead evaluates the crime as a contemporary case of investigation . Though the book is not suitable for those who study history in their academic curriculum, it definitely allows the readers to analyze the facts before declaring Richard III as a cruel man. Tey extracts several documents from the primary sources and builds her story through the integration of facts and fiction. The book advises the prominence of judgment and the evaluation of evidence in the discourse of history. However, I found some aspects of the book confusing, when it comes to the family history of Richard III . I would certainly recommend the book to others as it is one of the heart-touching historic mysteries, yet solved in a modern way.
References
Tey, Josephine. The Daughter of Time. Simon and Schuster, 2013.
