A Daughter's Love.

A Daughter's Love: Thomas & Margaret More. John Guy. Fourth Estate. [pounds sterling]25.00. xix + 378 pages. ISBN 978-0-00-719231-1. This biography is an attempt to put the historical record straight, to give credit where credit is due. St Thomas More is today revered as a saint by Catholics and as someone who stood up against tyranny by everyone. Less attention has been paid to his eldest daughter. Margaret Roper, who was his mainstay. Highly intelligent, brave, devout and widely read she gave More the support his wife could not give. Without her he might well have collapsed and recanted. After his martyrdom, her bravery in reclaiming his severed head is famous. Less famous is her role in preserving the letters her father wrote whilst in the Tower: she smuggled them out of the prison and preserved them afterwards. By a mastery of his sources Prof. Guy has recreated the society in which Sir Thomas and his gifted daughter flourished and suffered. His story is ultimately a double biography of father and daughter, 'this pious and high-principled woman' and of her role both during his lifetime and, as important, after his death. Without Margaret Roper there would today be no St Thomas More. (R.G.C.)