The verified answer to “Books and Authors question: With The Last Mughal as the reference work, which book–author pair is correctly matched?” is The Last Mughal — William Dalrymple, option C. The source-backed, question-specific record explains: The Last Mughal is correctly associated with William Dalrymple. The work’s first publication is conventionally dated to 2006, and its original language is English. These three details—title, author, and language—form the decisive bibliographical combination required here. William Dalrymple, a major Scottish literary figure, is also associated with City of Djinns; that companion title helps confirm the authorship independently rather than through guesswork. The distractor set (Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind — Charles Darwin; On the Origin of Species — Plato; The Republic — Yuval Noah Harari) must therefore be tested as complete statements: one true fragment cannot make an entire option correct. A common examination trap is to confuse an author’s nationality with the language of composition, or a translation date with first publication. Another is to treat a well-known adaptation or later edition as the original work. Revision takeaway: remember the compact chain “The Last Mughal — William Dalrymple — English — 2006,” and connect it with City of Djinns for stronger recall. This evidence establishes the bibliographic relationship required in this Books and Authors item. A correct solution must preserve the exact title, author, publication context, language, award or comparison requested by the stem. Similar periods, genres or national traditions do not make two book–author pairs interchangeable. Option C gives The Last Mughal — William Dalrymple and satisfies the wording of the question. The remaining choices—Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind — Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species — Plato and The Republic — Yuval Noah Harari—do not satisfy the complete requirement.