The Last Daughter by Nicola Cornick is a fabulous dual timeline novel that blends fact and fiction. The reader is educated about the period surrounding Richard III and Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire.
The action is set in the fifteenth century and present day in alternating chapters. There is an age-old mystery concerning the lost lodestar which is the source of legends and tales.
In present day a family is still reeling from the disappearance of a daughter eleven years earlier. “A part of her was still trapped in the moment of Caitlin’s disappearance.” Where there are no answers and no closure it is impossible to move forward.
An archeological dig makes a surprising discovery that throws up more questions than answers.
A terrible trauma has closed down a memory as we witness the power of the body to protect from more trauma. In contrast we see the painful effects of Alzheimer’s on a family as a loved one is slowly slipping away.
I really enjoyed The Last Daughter. It was exciting, unique and educating. Nicola Cornick really is a marvellous author.
I received a free copy from Harper Collins via Net Galley. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

This is way up there with The Phantom Tree , which is my favourite Nicola Cornick book to this point. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. I gripping read and one I throughly recommend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

With the discovery of her twin sister's body eleven years after her disappearance, Serena still has no clear memory of what happened that night. It emerges that her family have a long connection with Minster Lovell Hall and the Manor House where her grandparents lived. Their story is revealed through the present day and the fifteenth century Wars of the Roses in this atmospheric and enthralling time slip novel.

I’ve long been a fan of books by Lucinda Riley, Barbara Erskine and Kate Morton, and now I have to add Nicola Cornick to that list. I’ve just finished reading The Last Daughter (due to be published in July 2021 by @harpercollinsuk ) courtesy of @netgalley. I started it for a little distraction at 11 a.m. on a wet Bank Holiday Monday, and finally finished the last page late this afternoon. I literally couldn’t put it down.

So what’s it about?
A family is bound by a secret legacy hidden in the past. Serena Warren has been haunted for eleven years by what she can't remember about the night her twin sister disappeared . When Caitlin's body is discovered, Serena returns to her grandfather's house, in the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall in Oxfordshire, determined to find the truth. What she discovers ties her family to a centuries-old secret... Caitlin disappeared 11 yeas ago, but that’s not when she was buried. ..

If the facts Selena uncovers don’t put the hairs on the back of your neck up, nothing will!

Taking readers from the present day to the Wars of the Roses in the 1400's and back, The Last Daughter is a spellbinding novel about family secrets. I’ve always loved The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (1951), and have been fascinated by this period of English history since I was a teenager, so for me this book was perfect. As you read it, you come closer and closer to the inevitable and satisfying conclusion via dual timelines and intersecting family secrets.

My advice? Pre-order this book now!

(@njb1966 on instagram)