The Daughter of Time
""...a thought-provoking book... " "
Synopsis:
Richard III reigned for only two years, and for centuries was villified as the hunch-backed wicked uncle, murderer of the princes in the Tower. 'The Daughter of Time' is an investigation into the real facts behind the last Plantagenet king's reign, and an attempt to right what many believe to be the terrible injustice done to him by the Tudor dynasty.
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 Tudors?
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 III really was and who killed the Princes in the Tower.
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Review:
This is a thought-provoking book which turns everything we have been taught about Richard III on its head. Was he really the hunch-backed monster who ordered the murders of his two nephews in the Tower? It appears that Tey had other ideas. Although this is a mystery of sorts, it is more an historical novel about the Plantagenet king. You can tell that Tey has certainly done her research, maybe a little too much as the book does get weighed down with a lot of historical fact and I did tend to flick back and forth as more and more people were introduced, most having a minimal walk-on part. I did feel that the character of Grant took a back seat here and it was Tey who was using him as a mouthpiece to put across her argument. So, I am not sure if this really works as a 'detective novel', as due to the information being centuries old, Grant/Tey can only hypothesises. Having said that, Tey's biography of the king certainly got to me as I immediately went online and bought myself a biography of Richard III to find out more about this monarch than just being a murderer which we were taught in school. As always with a Folio edition, this comes with stunning images throughout the book by Mark Smith which captures the book perfectly with his illustrations, as well as an introduction from Historian and novelist, Alison Weir.