The Daughter of Time by Josephine Fey - 10 out of 10

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Fey

10 out of 10

 

 

This mesmerizing book has been voted Number One in the Top 100 Crime Novels of All time by the British Crime Writers Association and it is phenomenal not just on that level – although it was also voted number four by the Mystery Writers of America in their own top 100 – since it is not your usual type of crime story, seeing that this is not about finding the killer that has left one or a few bodies on his recent path – it is almost always a man…what is the percentage, by the way, nine in ten killers would be male…

 

The object of The Daughter of Time – why is it call the Daughter of Time I wonder…after writing this, a quote clears the puzzle…’Truth is the Daughter of Time, not of authority’ – is to look at the time of…Richard III, the one made famous around the world by Shakespeare ‘Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious by this son of York And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried’…some of the most beautiful, resounding, spectacular, vibrant lines in human history…

Alan Grant could be seen as the hero of the narrative, albeit Richard III might be a more suitable choice, the former is trapped in a hospital, assisted by the Midget and another nurse, visited by a doctor and the matron, and bored in the extreme under the circumstances and unwilling to read through some fashionable novels brought to him by amiable friends and visitors, he is reduced to looking at the map of the ceiling, until the actress Marta Hallard brings a series of photographs and portraits , with the intention of animating, lifting up the spirits of her patient friend, challenging him to look into the mysteries of the humans that have been photographed or painted and one in particular attracts the attention of the Scotland Yard inspector.

 

Looking at this portrait, Alan Grant thinks he belongs on the bench, as a judge or magistrate and when asking others about their impression, the doctor says that the man looks like someone in pain, a sergeant has the feeling that this is a judge and others cast him off as someone very unhappy – indeed, Richard III has had a very tormenting life, short reign, of only two years and many tragedies have traumatized a man that recent studies show – his bones have been only recently discovered, on the site of a parking lot, if my memory is correct – that has suffered from scoliosis, albeit the general misconception that he had been a hunchback is wrong, as well as almost all the conspiracy surrounding this great king.

We can look at the world today and see that there is a fury of conspiracy theories that have invaded the internet and have reached the highest echelons of power, where the presidents of America, Brazil, Philippines and so many other countries spread nefarious concoctions, benefiting from mud thrown at their adversaries…one such nonsense is Qanon, a contraption created by supporters of the very stable genius that is crazy as possible – and as their man at the top – which states that democrats are led by pedophiles, people who drink blood and gather in pizza parlors to dominate the world – to use a favorite term of the man who paid nothing for ten years and then $ 750 in taxes, to benefit from the best health care in the world…

 

Richard III has been hit by one of these destructive conspiracy theories, creating the myth of the monster that appears in so many movies and adaptations – one such motion picture is The Goodbye Girl, wherein Richard Dreyfuss plays an actor that is working on his Richard III performance, and the king is played as a comical…hunchback – but was in fact a great man, generous and kind, courageous and loyal to his brother, handsome Edward, ready to place his brother’s children on the throne and not the monster that had them killed.

Alas, history is not written by people that are interested in psychology or even by those who insist on getting accurate information, as the case of the loathed monarch demonstrates and it takes an inspector from Scotland Yard, forced to stay in bed, to uncover the real story of a magnificent figure, the one who had been appreciated, loved even for the integrity, loyalty to his family and friends, the skill with which he had administered, organized his people and the kingdom, once he was propelled on the throne.

 

He was not an usurper, on the contrary, as the inspector demonstrates with the help of an American who is doing research at the British Museum and offers to help him in his effort to solve the mystery of the murder that is generally blamed on Richard III, the killing of the two brothers in the tower – The Tower of London was at the time a residence and not a prison, as we know it today – a ghastly, monstrous act that the more we read the better we see that it had nothing to do with their uncle, who had not stopped them from getting to the throne.

Indeed, the reason why the son of the deceased Edward is not anointed does not have to do with a treacherous uncle, but with the fact that information was brought forth regarding a previous marriage of the late monarch that makes the two brothers illegitimate and thus not in line to ascend the throne…this was a fact attested and confirmed by parliament, as documents show, and thus it is not the Will to Power of a vicious figure that we unfortunately identify with the antihero described by Shakespeare – he has had the wrong information and other examples are given in the book, to which we can add the aforementioned conspiracies that pollute our world today and are manipulated even by world leaders – charlatans really – one example from history is the alleged Boston Massacre which was in reality no such thing…

 

With detective skill, Alan Grant looks at the documents of the age, dismissing some crooked, is appreciated ‘histories’, one of which is written by the Saintly Thomas More and it turns out to be just a hand copy of a manuscript written by one of the enemies of Richard III…the inspector looks at the motives and the logic of the murder and there is not one iota in regards to the king, who had been legally proclaimed the sovereign, and if he was to eliminate other pretenders, well then, he would have had to kill many others, given that the list of people in line to the throne, without the poor children was very long…

 

The one who had all the reasons to kill the sons of Edward IV was Henry VII and he most likely gave the order to have them killed and the detailed search for documents, letters and proofs demonstrate the theory of the brilliant Alan Grant, in a mesmerizing, rewarding detective story that deals so much with history that the reader can feel not just entertained to the brim, but he or she can also boost the self-esteem by saying…well, this is not just a crime story, it is a goddamn history book, better than… some of the best