The Last Daughter of York (2021) is a fantasy Time Travel novel by Nicola Cornick that has parallel plots. In the present day, Serena Warren learns that her twin sister, who went missing eleven years previously, has been found dead. The only catch is that her body was buried in the early 1700s. Meanwhile, during the Wars of the Roses, Anna Fitzhugh Lovell watches the civil war rage around her and her husband become close to the future Richard III.
This novel provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Francis complains that as the king's ward, Edward IV is using Francis's fortune to pay for his large liquor bill.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: Serena copes with scads of survivor's guilt over her missing/dead twin, Caitlin.
- Arranged Marriage: Anna and Francis are married when they are children, though they don’t live together as man and wife until they are teenagers.
- Historical Hero Upgrade and Historical Villain Upgrade: A rare case of both. Richard III is innocent of his nephews murder, but he is self-dealing and ambitious. Anna Lovell finds his wife, her cousin Anne Neville, to be this as well.
- Magical Accessory: The Lovell Lodestar can transport a person through time.
- Nobility Marries Money: The whole reason Anna and Francis are married is to get Francis's vast fortune into the Fitzhugh-Neville family.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Even though they disagree about Richard III, Anna and Francis love each other and are Happily Married.
- The Reveal: Grandfather Dick is from the past. It's also a Really Royalty Reveal for Serena and her family and Lost Orphaned Royalty since Dick was adopted as a child.
- Secret History: The whole history of the Lovell Family and the Lodestone counts, but particularly their involvement in the princes in the tower mystery is covered in the book.
- Spirited Young Lady: Serena thinks of Caitlin as this, though she learns her sister was more troubled than she knew.
- Stock Unsolved Mysteries: The Fate of the Princes in the Tower is revealed. Edward V died of natural causes, but his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury escaped with the help of Francis Lovell and eventually found his way to the 20th Century.
- Time Travel Escape: Happens to Caitlin and her grandfather Dick who is the younger of the two princes in the tower.
