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 usurpers of England's throne? 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 Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower.

An excellent mystery - the mystery of Richard III, Henry VII & the disappearing Princes. Beautifully thought out & well-written.

Bookray instructions:
1. SIGN UP for this bookray by sending me a Private Message. Order of participants will be juggled between geography and date of request. Late additions may be added to the end of the list.
2. When the person before you on the list finishes reading the book, they will send you a Private Message for your postal address. If you are experiencing an RBC (Reading Backlog Crisis) or no longer wish to read it, let them (and me!) know and I will move you down/off the list.
3. WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE BOOK please make a journal entry so everyone knows it has safely arrived.
4. WHEN YOU FINISH THE BOOK, make another journal entry telling us what you thought - did you like it? Did you think it was well-written?
5. CONTINUE THE BOOKRING by sending a Private Message to the person after you on the bookring list and request their postal address. Please check back here for the latest distribution list. If the person doesn't respond within 7-10 days (use your judgement), please PM the next person, and then me, so I can update the bookring list.

Participants International:
fushmush, NSW
amberC, NT
Crystaljade, QLD
Jensel, ACT
kirst040, NSW
lauraloo29, Canada
aneca, Mafra, Portugal
sunlightbub, UK
.. Last person to release as they wish..
DONE

Received at meetup last night. I've always been morbidly interested in the mystery of the Princes. Thanks for sharing Catsalive.

I got about 100 pages into this before I lost interest. I don't think I was in the right mood for it.

I've had this for far too long so rather then try and read it again, I'll pass it on. I've PMed AmberC and will post it to her when I receive her address.

received safely in the mail today.

i have a few before it.

A lovely, quick read. a rather different 'who dunnit'. makes me wonder how much is true of both this story and of what we have been taught as history.

off to Crystaljade tomorrow

Oops, sorry. Not having a pc at home at the moment, I forgot to journal this one when it first arrived. So, it arrived, I've read it, and am ready to send it on already. It was an interesting book. I liked the way they followed the mystery to find facts that are usually not shown when the story of the Princes in the Tower is told. Like amberC I'm wondering how much truth is in the usual history story, and how much is in this story.

Received this morning, will start reading tonight,
thanks

Just finished this one and have pm'ed the next on the list. Very much enjoyed this, as AmberC says "a different kind of whodunnit".

I was aware previously that the 'evil uncle' image of R3 was mostly a Shakespear construct, but what is really puzzling me is the title - am I just being daft here and missing some really obvious reference??

hmmm

anyway, thanks for the opportunity to read this, much appreciated and I will keep and eye out for any others by this author.
thanks
Jensel

Funny you should mention that, Jensel, I was pondering the title just the other day. Does anyone else have an idea about "Daughter of Time"? My only guess is that Time can change our view of events and circumstances. Unfortunately, the details are starting to fade since I read it 5 months ago so I can't offer anything further.

I'm glad you are enjoying it.

Arrived today thanks.

I have 5 bookrings/rays in my possession at the moment but hopefully a lot of reading time coming up so I shouldn't have it too long.

An amazing coincidence, just after I journalled this there was an ad on ABC advertising Thursday's Fact or Fiction program (8.30pm) which will be about....Richard III and the mystery of the 2 princes.
More info on theABC website

This was interesting but I'm afraid I wouldn't rave about it, perhaps it's becasue I don't really know a whole lot about that time in history. I was intrigued about the process Grant used to come up with his conclusion, it was interesting to see his logic working.

It took me until about half way through to get the family trees straight in my head so I'd probably benefit from reading it again. Unfortunately I have far too many other books to read so I will mail it off to lauraloo29 tomorrow.

I too was intrigued about the title and some quick googling led me to a quote attributed to Francis Bacon "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority".

Thanks for starting this ray catsalive.

Has arrived safe and sound on my side of the world. :)

I have 2 books before this one. They are both quick reads.

This was not a book I would normally pick out on my own. The description did grab me, but wasn't enough to keep me wanting to read. I've been walking around all weekend with it, so I can catch a few pages in my spare time. But I have done everything to avoid reading it. Not a good sign for me. I thought I was familiar with this time in history, but the way history is being discussed (obviously the English characters would have more knowledge than I), I find frustrating.

I am happy to have had an opportunity to read it. Thank you for sharing! I'm going to do my best to get it in the mail on Dec 22nd. But if not, for sure on December 30th. (The post office is closed for much of the holiday season.)

I just received it, thank you so much! I'll read it asap!

I just finished it and I must say I really enjoyed it. It's an entertaining read and presents the case nicely. I too wondered about the title. To anyone wanting to know more about Richard III I would suggest Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne In Splendour. It's fabulous!!
I'm sending it to the next person on monday!

For all of you who were wondering, the title is from this quote by Francis Bacon: "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority."

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans (January 21, 1561 - April 9, 1626), achieved fame as an English philosopher, statesman, and essayist.

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This further explanation I found in Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early Modern Philosophy by Stephen Gaukroger: "Bacon tells us 'that truth is rightly called the daughter of time, not the daughter of authority.' I take this to mean that knowledge is built up cumulatively, and is not something that can be grasped by a single philosopher, no matter how great, in isolation".

To show how the above quote relates to the book I've extracted the following from the Richard III Society, American Branch website (http://www.r3.org/intro.html).

'The Daughter of Time (1951) brought the controversy surrounding Richard III and the Princes in the Tower to a wide public audience and is perhaps the most popular defense of Richard. This mystery novel addresses the issue of historical truth. Inspector Alan Grant, trapped in a hospital with a broken leg, is bored senseless. Because he fancies himself to be an expert on faces, his friend, Marta Hallard, a famous actress, gives him some portraits to study. In the portrait of Richard III, he sees power and suffering in the face of a man of conscience and integrity. Is it "a judge, a soldier, a prince? Someone used to great responsibility, and responsible in his authority. Someone too conscientious. A worrier, perhaps a perfectionist. A man at ease in large design but anxious over details. A candidate for a gastric ulcer." Grant is dismayed to discover that it is the portrait of one of the most infamous villains in history, the "monster" said to have murdered his nephews to obtain the crown of England. How could he have misjudged? Grant decides that he will read everything he can find to discern the truth of the matter. With his detective skills and reasoning ability, he hopes to solve the mystery the missing princes.

Tey keeps the pace lively by the constant activities of contemporary characters, while Grant's "flashbacks" to the past through the reading of historical sources guides the reader stepwise through the collection of evidence, such as it is, and the reasoning process. Grant's research is very similar to a modern day criminal investigation, except that the witnesses are long dead and left behind little tangible evidence. Grant cross-compares facts from the various sources to try to forge a logical scenario. He discovers that once an erroneous account is published, it is often unquestioningly accepted as true. Historians subsequent to Sir Thomas More (in particular, Hall and Holinshed) appear to have accepted More's account as indisputable, when in fact he could have only obtained his information secondhand (most likely from the highly-prejudiced Bishop Morton.) In today's courtroom, such "evidence" would be inadmissible as "hearsay." Josephine Tey addresses the question, in this book and others: "How much of history is solidly grounded in fact, and how much is it malleable for the sake of political expediency?" In The Daughter of Time, Inspector Grant eventually tries to dig up sources contemporaneous with Richard III to eliminate the Tudor bias. In writing Richard III, Shakespeare's goal was to write a compelling drama, and historical accuracy was sacrificed for the sake of plot. Because it was widely believed in those days that Richard III had had his nephews murdered, he was a logical villain; Shakespeare only needed to superimpose exaggerated physical deformities and a Machiavellian-inspired personality to create an unforgettable character.

In The Daughter of Time, Grant bounces ideas off of the other people in his life--nurses, doctors, and acquaintances to illustrate the reactions of varying personalities to the information he discovers; this gives him opportunities to expound on his findings and theories. The characters include the previously-mentioned Marta Hallard, the busy, efficient, no-nonsense Nurse Ingham ("The Midget"), the sympathetic and helpful Nurse Ella Darroll ("The Amazon"), and Brent Carradine, an American student who obtains research materials for Grant and discusses the issues with him at length. This mystery demonstrates that once an idea, right or wrong, becomes "fixed" in a culture, people resist changing their opinions on the matter, even in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence.

Received ths today..I hadn't realised I was last..might be as well as I have bookring overload at the moment! I'm so looking forward to it though. I love The Franchise Affair and Brat Farrer and the premise of this book really intrigues me . Thanks to everyone for getting it this far xxx

I've nearly finished now and have got some new names to continue the ray.

Elestr
Starry-Starry
IoJima
namedujour

I thought this was an interesting way to explore a longstanding historial mystery. I must admit I do not know much about this period and I am obviously one of those brainwashed by my history lessons, by Shakespeare, as I think of Richard III in terms of the murderous hunchback. I have read other books by Tey ( Brat Farrer & The Franchise Affair) which have been more of the usual kind of mystery..I'd recommend both titles highly, and I have another in my tbr's. I very gad to have had the opportunity to read this.

As you'll have seen in my previous JE the ray will continue......

Thought I'd journalled this when it arrived but I didn't. Anyway. It's a very good read and really takes you along with the narrative. Ready to go to Starry-Starry when I get her snail mail.

Iris/Elestr:)

Thanks Elestr, looking forward to reading it.

I really enjoyed this book, entertaining and interesting, I have no doubt that it is very well researched, though as it is fiction it doesn't paint a very balanced picture! It was a very easy read and the pace was perfect. And thanks Catsalive for adding the background information.

Also, part of the interest for me was in the period in which it is set - the 1950s. Matrons, the mild chauvinism, the casual mention of hanging a man in the same breath as gardening, even the inordinate amount of time Alan Grant seems to have spent in bed after breaking his leg - I think you get sent home the same day these days. I like reading old books for the glimpse you get at how things were 50 years ago and I think I would have read it just for that without the added bonus of an interesting story.

Thanks Sunlightbub for continuing the ray. I'll send it on to Iojima as soon as I have her address.

Received today and will be starting soon. I read this as a teenager and loved it, so will be looking forward to a re-read.

I loved it, again! I gather that Tey left out the research that didn't support her theory, but it's still very convincing and will send me off to further research. By the way, Grant didn't just have a broken leg; he'd hurt his back, too. Hence, lying flat, staring at the ceiling.

Just received. Thank you!!