The Daughter Of Time: A gripping historical mystery

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This novel does not neatly fall into a genre. It is regarded as a mystery, possibly because Josephine Tey was an author of mysteries. However if you are looking for a traditional mystery look elsewhere. The crime occurred some 400 years before the investigation related in this novel. Despite the age of the crime it is not a historical mystery of the Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael sort. The investigators are alive and working in the present. At least the present of a book written in 1951. It is a combination of historical fiction, mystery and historical research. One of the investigators is Brent Carradine, a historical researcher. The other is Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard. Together they reach conclusions about Richard III and Henry VII which are at odds with conventional beliefs and Shakespeare. Winston Churchill stated in his History of the English-Speaking Peoples [6] his belief in Richard's guilt of the murder of the princes, adding, "It will take many ingenious books to raise the issue to the dignity of a historical controversy", probably referring to Tey's novel, published seven years earlier. The papers of Sir Alan Lascelles contain a reference to his conversation with Churchill about the book. [7] Adaptations [ edit ] Since Alan can't leave the hospital- Marta brings in her friend and researcher at the British Museum- Brent Carradine to help Alan in his quest- to clear King Richard's name, and prove once and for all that he wasn't the monster the history books and Shakespeare wrote about.

While caring for her father she began her career as a writer. [5] Her first published work was in The Westminster Gazette in 1925, under the name Gordon Daviot. She continued publishing verse and short stories in The Westminster Review, The Glasgow Herald and the Literary Review. A Shilling For Candles: broadcast in 1954, 1963 and 1969, adapted by Rex Rienits; in 1998, adapted by John Fletcher The novel's title is taken from an old proverb ("Truth is the daughter of time") which is quoted by Tey as the novel's epigraph. Like all aphorisms this proverb has been directly quoted, paraphrased or enhanced many times over the centuries by multiple famous literate thinkers such as Aulus Gellius and Abraham Lincoln (direct quotes); Sir Francis Bacon (enhanced quote: "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority." [2]); and Thales (paraphrase: "It is time that has discovered, or in due course will discover, all things that lie hidden.") to name just a few. In THE DAUGHTER OF TIME Inspector Alan Grant is laid up in the hospital with a broken leg, and ooooooooh so bored. His friend- Marta- sympathetic to his plight- brings him photographs of important figures throughout history and the mysteries surrounding them- long unsolved. Alan finds one face jumps out at him more than the rest...Tey's pro-Richard arguments repeat some of those made in Clements Markham's 1906 book Richard III: his life & character, reviewed in the light of recent research. [4]

All as Josephine Tey. These novels are set in the same fictional 20th-century Britain as the Inspector Grant novels. Había oído críticas muy buenas de este libro y me daba miedo que no superara las altas expectativas, pero lo ha hecho. Se trata de un "whodunit", pero con un giro. Sigue las convenciones del género, pero para investigar un enigma real: ¿qué sucedió con los "príncipes de la torre"? ¿Quién los asesino? Cualquiera diría que fue Ricardo III, que para eso es el protagonista de la mayor obra de propaganda jamás creada por Shakespeare, ¿pero es eso cierto?

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a b "Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time - UK Crime Writers' Association". Library Thing . Retrieved 6 November 2023.

Ewan, Elizabeth; etal., eds. (2006). The biographical dictionary of Scottish women: from the earliest times to 2004. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p.233. ISBN 9780748626601. Josephine Tey’s take is more even-handed. Alan Grant is a Scotland Yard inspector who is confined to a hospital bed with a broken leg, and to while away his time he begins an investigation into the facts of this case. With the help of a young man who is doing research at the British Museum, he begins to eliminate all the historical records and put together only the known facts of what was actually being done, where principals were, and what is known irrefutably to be true. He reaches a conclusion that it would be difficult to disagree with, and that version does not match the high school history books. Proceeds from Tey's estate, including royalties from her books, were assigned to the National Trust. [10] Reception and legacy [ edit ] McDermid, Val (16 July 2015). "Val McDermid: the brillliant unconventional crime novels of Josephine Tey". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235 . Retrieved 18 February 2019. If you take the "players" in The War of the Roses, and place them in more modern times- one could almost compare them to The Mob fighting for control of their territory...

For me, another one of those is Josephine Tey in The Daughter of Time. This is an extremely well put together advocacy of something that you then have to go away and read up on to realise it's probably not true. I like the Wars of the Roses, and I have to agree with majority historian opinion on this one: Tey's conclusion (or Tey's protagonist's conclusion) is probably not what happened. But for that glorious week, her conclusion slotted so beautifully in place, that it seemed to me to be the only possible way for events to have occurred. I showed it to my partner, and told him to go in sceptical, and he came out exactly the same way. That is a spectacular piece of sophistry, and I can't think of any circumstance in which I'd rather find it. Her only non-fiction book, Claverhouse, was written as a vindication of John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee, whom she regarded as a libeled hero: "It is strange that a man whose life was so simple in pattern and so forthright in spirit should have become a peg for every legend, bloody or brave, that belonged to his time." a b R. Gordon Kelly, "Josephine Tey and Others: The Case of Richard III", in Ray B. Browne, Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr, et al. (eds.) The Detective as Historian: History and Art in Historical Crime Fiction, Volume 1, Popular Press, 2000, p.134.

I'm not sure how historically accurate the details of Tey's argument are, nor whether her evidence would stand up in a modern court of justice, but the case for Richard is presented in a convincing manner and makes a gripping read, mainly because the protagonist, Inspector Alan Grant, is absolutely convinced of Richard's innocence and hell-bent on finding evidence to support his subjective impression of the man, taking a violent dislike to Richard's most famous biographer, Sir Thomas More, in the process. I love books in which the characters get passionate and even a little obsessive about things, and Tey's Inspector Grant is nothing if not obsessive. His ferocious zeal for his quest (often expressed in violent outbursts to startled nurses) is quite infectious, to the point where you find yourself wishing for a big pile of history books and access to the British Museum to verify Grabt's discoveries for yourself. At least that's what the book did for me. After finishing The Daughter of Time, I spent several hours on line Googling the authors and historians Tey mentions in her book, some historical, others seemingly fictitious. In the course of my research, I came across several Ricardian societies, all working towards a rehabilitation of the last Plantagenet king. Many of their members seem to have joined after reading The Daughter of Time. In short, Tey's book has been influential, and for good reason -- it's a fascinating journey through English history, and a grand tale of high-minded obsession to boot. It had me add several history books to my to-read list. I love books which make me enthusiastic for previously unexplored subjects, so as far as that's concerned, Tey did a great job. Her novel The Daughter of Time (1951) was voted the greatest mystery novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990. Author Dana Stabenow's homage to Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time — How My Mother and Josephine Tey Led Me into a Life of Crime The curriculum for "physical training" included much more than athletics. Tey used her school experience in Miss Pym Disposes when describing the subjects taught at the school, and the types of bruises and other injuries sustained by the pupils. When she graduated, Tey worked in a physiotherapy clinic in Leeds, then taught in schools, first in Nottinghamshire, then in Oban, where she was injured when a boom in the gymnasium fell on her face. Tey repurposed this incident as a method of murder in Miss Pym Disposes. The two exceptions to this were this book & a modern New Zealand classic, Season Of The Jew. Both of these books produced animated, thoughtful discussions & the women leading the reads did heaps of extra research. It was nice seeing what fun being part of a real life book club could be like, but I didn't join another one until I became a member of Goodreads. Online book clubs really work for me! If I can't get hold of (or don't like a choice) I don't read it.I puzzled over the title until I found the key to its meaning online in a quotation by Sir Francis Bacon. I have quoted it above. I couldn’t help wondering if the general public was so much smarter in 1951 that they would have immediately recognized the reference, since the book I read is obviously an original copy from the era, and Tey included nothing to explain the title...not even a reference to the quotation on the frontis plate. Thanks to some friends, he is offered a mystery to solve. A very old mystery, one with its roots in history which means it is written by historians, which means a combination of invention, speculation, and based only on whatever facts might have been expedient to use at the time. tentative gesture, and proffered a companion piece. [Pg 216]‘Know what I find the convincing thing in the case for The Expensive Halo: A Fable without Moral (1931) - about two pairs of brothers and sisters, one aristocratic, the other working class.