You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Oh, I loved this book. It was the first novel by Josephine Tey that I have read but now I can't wait to read her others. There was just something about it that I can't quite lay my finger on that I adored - I know it definitely had to do with the writing. It was instantly a comforting, cozy read and was really fascinating. I felt like I already knew the characters. I know that some of the historical "fact" she uses was indeed fabricated for the story's effect, but it didn't make it an any less interesting mystery. And of course, some of her views are quite dated - anti-Irish, and vaguely anti-Semitic... of course, there isn't an excuse, but there isn't any more of it than there is in any of the writers from the Golden Age of Mystery (Sayers, Christie, etc). Reading this does make me want to go back and re-read some of English history around the time of Bosworth and the rise of the Tudors. I can't wait to spend more time curled up with her novels in the future.
A timely re-assessment of Richard III written 60 years ago, in the form of bed-ridden-detective novel. Fascinating and convincing, just not beautifully written.
mysterious
reflective
Gets off to a goofy start, but rapidly becomes an enjoyable exploration of whether Richard III had his nephews murdered. This isn't historical fiction; it's set at the time of its writing, (late 1940s/early 1950s), and the characters are researching the history behind the story. Their shock at the realisation that history as taught in schools might not be entirely accurate seems naive, but also painfully relevant to our current age.
I appreciate Tey's fresh approach at mystery novels. She rejects romance pretty firmly, comes at the stories from different angles including ignoring her detective almost completely in one book and in this example, invaliding him. I thought I had read this book in my middle school tumble into British novels. But nope, what I was remembering was Ngaio Marsh's Death of a Fool. Ha!
This was thin but I romped through it quickly and am ready to watch BCumberbatch's Richard III series now!
This was thin but I romped through it quickly and am ready to watch BCumberbatch's Richard III series now!
Not bad even though hard to follow at points and the setting revolves around a hospital room that is never left. I found it helpful to have read Dan Jones histories of the english crown so I was more familiar with the players that are highlighted in the story.
The most unlikely breakneck-paced mystery I've ever read. A Scotland Yard inspector is the protagonist, and he's stuck in a hospital bed for the entire novel. He decides to research whether or not Richard III killed his nephews.
That's the book. It sounds so boring, but Tey makes it a joy to read. I flew through it despite knowing next to nothing about the history of British royalty.
challenging
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The literary equivalent of Rear Window, this mystery entirely takes place in the hospital bed of the convalescing Inspector Alan Grant. Unlike Jimmy Stewart's character in the Hitchcock film (which premiered a few years after The Daughter of Time was published), Grant can only observe the cracks in his ceiling, and he uncovers no murders in his surroundings, save for those he finds in the books his friends lend him. When he comes across the portrait of Richard III, he sets to solving one of Britain's enduring mysteries: Did Richard kill his nephews, the Princes in the Tower?
Although I am one of those historians Grant disparages, I thoroughly enjoyed his wit and Tey's prose. She does an admirable job translating the War of the Roses into a comprehensible timeline through lively dialogue. The Daughter of Time is not so much a mystery as it is a study in how history is recorded and by whom—a subject that has only gained traction since this novel was written.
One aspect of the novel does not stand the test of time: Grant's observations about the types of faces that criminals versus honest men have, coupled with the derogatory nicknames he gives his nurses, skirt too close to eugenics and racial profiling for my liking. Yes, judging Tey by modern standards is about as fair as Grant expecting Richard III to adhere to 1950s morals. But anyone who lived through the 1940s (or, indeed, the preceding decades) knows the danger of labeling a type of people as criminally inclined. Unlike some of the casually sexist remarks that Grant makes, which can be dismissed as character flaws that make him a product of his time, this idea is central to the mystery. We're supposed to agree with Grant. And I don't.
Despite that, it is both gratifying and sad that the last novel Tey published during her lifetime was later voted the greatest mystery novel of all time—a remarkable legacy and a tantalizing "what could have been."
Although I am one of those historians Grant disparages, I thoroughly enjoyed his wit and Tey's prose. She does an admirable job translating the War of the Roses into a comprehensible timeline through lively dialogue. The Daughter of Time is not so much a mystery as it is a study in how history is recorded and by whom—a subject that has only gained traction since this novel was written.
One aspect of the novel does not stand the test of time: Grant's observations about the types of faces that criminals versus honest men have, coupled with the derogatory nicknames he gives his nurses, skirt too close to eugenics and racial profiling for my liking. Yes, judging Tey by modern standards is about as fair as Grant expecting Richard III to adhere to 1950s morals. But anyone who lived through the 1940s (or, indeed, the preceding decades) knows the danger of labeling a type of people as criminally inclined. Unlike some of the casually sexist remarks that Grant makes, which can be dismissed as character flaws that make him a product of his time, this idea is central to the mystery. We're supposed to agree with Grant. And I don't.
Despite that, it is both gratifying and sad that the last novel Tey published during her lifetime was later voted the greatest mystery novel of all time—a remarkable legacy and a tantalizing "what could have been."