The Einstein Vendetta

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Hanns and Rudolf - a gripping true story of unsolved murder, war, and injustice in Nazi-occupied Florence



Italy, Summer 1944

A unit of German soldiers arrives at a villa near Florence. Villa Il Focardo is home to Robert Einstein, cousin to the most famous scientist in the world, Albert Einstein – a prominent enemy of the Nazi regime. Having renounced his German citizenship a decade earlier, Albert’s safely in America, well beyond Hitler’s reach.

The same is not true for his cousin.

Twelve hours after arriving, the soldiers have vanished – and a family is dead. This crime – and what happened next – still haunts those who survived.

Who ordered it? Who was involved?

And why did they get away with it?

This is the untold story of the Einstein vendetta.

Review

Praise for The Einstein Vendetta ― -

What’s in a name? Well, if it’s Einstein, quite a lot. Thomas Harding has carved out a significant reputation as a prize-winning writer, and The Einstein Vendetta makes for deeply shocking reading. This is a gripping, finely researched, superbly written and deeply important book -- Anna Sebba ― Spectator

I absolutely devoured The Einstein Vendetta. It is so moving and the way in which Harding navigates the unresolved nature of the story is quite remarkable. Totally compelling ― Edmund de Waal

An absolute triumph. Beautifully judged and infused with humanity and empathy -- Allan Little

Nazi brutality, and the resulting family pain and grief, is vividly recorded. The Einstein Vendetta shines a light on these forgotten lives and crimes and on the limits of post-war attempts to secure justice. Harding evokes time and place beautifully, while paying forensic attention to detail. The result is a slow burn of cliff-hangers to keep the pages turning ― Spectator

The Einstein Vendetta will tug at your heartstrings and prompt righteous outrage. Harding captures beautifully the general atmosphere of wartime Tuscany, the fear the family must have felt in their last hours and the inhuman toll the executions took. Harding is excellent on the investigations of the case – the details of this ‘slow, hard work. Real shoe-leather work’ could in other hands be dry and dusty, but Harding makes them riveting: archival files poured over in search of vital clues, witnesses undone by failing memory, and always the hope that some small cosmic order will be restored by finding the man who ordered the shootings ― Telegraph

Thomas Harding has carved out a niche unravelling unexplained events. The Einstein Vendetta shows that, although more than eighty years have passed since the Wehrmacht and the SS retreated from Tuscany, there is still substantial appetite to nail down the crimes they committed ― Caroline Moorhead, Literary Review

Praise for Thomas Harding ― -

With the narrative drive of a great novelist and the meticulous research of a great historian, Harding has crafted a moving, instructive and important book -- Dan Brotzel ― The Herald

Harding is a thoughtful and honest writer . . . an exemplary piece of history writing ― Literary Review

About the Author

Thomas Harding is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has written for the Sunday Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian, amongst other publications.

He is the bestselling author of Hanns and Rudolf, which won the JQ-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction, The House by the Lake, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award, Blood on the Page, which won the Crime Writers' Association 'Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction', and most recently The Maverick, which was selected by the New York Times as a Critic’s Pick for 2023.

You can follow Thomas on Twitter/x @thomasharding