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Well, I enjoyed the book, and I don’t know how much that was influenced by my early affection for it because it made me look at Richard III with new eyes.
Yes, of course the attitudes referred to by gmw and issybird are appalling to us. But I think they were absolutely normal in England for 1951, when the book was published. I’m not suggesting that makes them okay, but I don’t think Tey should be cast into outer darkness for reflecting the attitudes of the day.
I think the reason the book was voted to be the best mystery ever, or whatever that title was, is because it was such a different approach, and a very successful one, in getting a lot of people interested not only in the question of “Did he or didn’t he?”, but also in the idea that there are many different versions of history. Also of course the need to go back to original documents, rather than relying on one person’s version of what happened.
One thing I really enjoyed this time around was the easy access that the Internet gives us to so many of these documents. I would never have dreamed I could read the Titulus Regius back when I read the book all those decades ago. But I did read it with much fascination online a few days ago.
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