The Daughter of Time

This is a book about a mystery.

A man named Alan is in a hospital. He has a broken leg. He feels bored in his bed.

A friend brings him old pictures. Alan looks at a king. The king is named Richard III. Alan thinks the king was kind.

Many people say the king was bad. They say he was a killer. Alan wants to find the truth. He reads many old books.

He talks to a researcher. They look at facts together. They think the king was not a killer.

This book is a very famous story. It is a great mystery book.

The Daughter of Time is a famous mystery book.

It was written by Josephine Tey in 1951. The story follows a police officer named Alan Grant. Alan is stuck in a hospital bed with a broken leg. He feels very bored.

A friend brings him pictures of old leaders. Alan looks at a portrait of King Richard III. Many people say this king was a mean killer. They say he hurt two young princes in the Tower of London. But Alan looks at the king's face. He thinks the king looks kind and wise.

Alan starts a big search for the truth. He reads many old books and papers. He even works with a researcher named Brent Carradine. They look for real facts about the past. They find that there is no proof Richard was a killer. They think the stories might be lies made by the winners of a war.

This book is a very special story. In 1990, it was voted the number one crime novel of all time. Many people love how it looks at history. It shows how stories can change over time.

The Daughter of Time is a famous mystery novel written by Josephine Tey.

It was published in 1951. This book is highly valued by readers of crime stories. In 1990, it was voted the number one crime novel of all time by the British Crime Writers' Association. The story is special because it uses a detective to look at history. It asks if the stories we believe are actually true.

The story follows a police officer named Inspector Alan Grant. He is stuck in a hospital bed with a broken leg. He feels very bored while he waits to get better. A friend named Marta Hallard brings him pictures of historical people. Grant looks at a portrait of King Richard III of England. He believes he can read a person's character from their face. He thinks the King looks like a kind and wise man.

Grant begins a deep investigation into the life of the King. He wants to know why people say Richard was a cruel murderer. Many people believe he killed two young princes in the Tower of London. Grant works with a young researcher named Brent Carradine. They look at many old documents in the British Museum. They use detective logic to test different theories. They want to see if the old stories match the real facts.

Through his research, Grant finds many interesting details. He reads books like Tanner's Constitutional History of England. He also looks at the work of Thomas More. Grant finds that there is no legal proof that Richard killed the princes. There were no court records or inquests from that time. He notices the princes were not reported missing until after Richard died. The new King, Henry VII, took over the Tower of London. Grant concludes that the stories might be propaganda from the winning side.

The book's title comes from an old proverb. The proverb says, "Truth is the daughter of time." This means that time helps us find the truth. Many famous thinkers like Abraham Lincoln have used this idea. The novel shows how history is built by the people who win wars. It teaches us to look closely at the legends we hear. This makes the book a classic for anyone who loves a good mystery.

The Daughter of Time is a celebrated detective novel written by Josephine Tey.

Published in 1951, it was the final book Tey released during her lifetime. The novel is highly regarded within the mystery genre. In 1990, the British Crime Writers' Association (CWA) voted it the number one crime novel of all time. It is also ranked fourth on the MWA's Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time list. The book is unique because it applies modern police investigation techniques to ancient history.

The story centers on Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard. Grant is confined to a hospital bed with a broken leg. To combat his boredom, his friend Marta Hallard suggests he research a historical mystery. She provides him with portraits of various historical figures. Grant is interested in physiognomy, which is the practice of assessing a person's character from their facial features. When he sees a portrait of King Richard III, he is struck by the man's appearance. He perceives Richard as a gentle, kind, and wise leader. This initial instinct drives him to investigate why history remembers him as a cruel murderer.

Grant's investigation is a methodical process of checking evidence and logic. He works with Brent Carradine, a young American researcher at the British Museum. Together, they examine various historical documents and texts. Grant uses his detective's logic to analyze the "Princes in the Tower" case. This refers to the allegation that Richard III murdered his two young nephews to secure his throne. Grant looks for specific legal evidence, such as a bill of attainder or a coroner's inquest. He discovers that no contemporary legal proceedings existed to convict Richard of these specific crimes.

The novel examines several different types of historical writing. Grant begins his research with simple children's history books. He then moves to general popular histories. He eventually encounters more complex texts, such as the scholarly Tanner's Constitutional History of England. He also reads Thomas More's History of King Richard III. The author even includes a fictional historical novel titled The Rose of Raby by "Evelyn Payne-Ellis." This fictional book is a pastiche, or an imitation, of historical writing styles. Through these sources, Grant learns how different authors shape our understanding of the past.

Grant builds a strong case for Richard III's innocence based on several key arguments. First, he notes that there was no political advantage for Richard to kill the princes. Once the Titulus Regius was enacted, the princes were no longer a threat to his crown. Second, he observes that the princes' mother, Elizabeth Woodville, remained on good terms with Richard. Her daughters even attended social events at his court. Third, he finds that the princes were not reported missing until after the Battle of Bosworth Field. At that time, Richard was already dead, and Henry VII had taken custody of the Tower.

The book explores the concept of historical propaganda. Grant concludes that the image of Richard as a monstrous hunchback was a fabrication by the victorious Tudor dynasty. He suggests that the Tudors created myths to justify their own rule. Grant uses the term "Tonypandy" to describe these widely believed but false historical myths. This term refers to the supposed shootings at the Tonypandy Riots in 1910. The novel argues that history is often written by the winners to serve their own interests. This theme connects the specific mystery of Richard III to the broader way humans construct legends.

The title of the novel is taken from an ancient proverb: "Truth is the daughter of time." This epigraph suggests that time eventually reveals what is real. Many famous thinkers have engaged with this idea. Aulus Gellius and Abraham Lincoln have quoted it directly. Sir Francis Bacon enhanced it, stating that truth is the daughter of time, not of authority. The philosopher Thales expressed a similar idea through a paraphrase. The novel uses this concept to show how historical truth can be buried by legends but eventually uncovered through careful study.