The Einstein Vendetta

“Moving and quite remarkable. Totally compelling.” - Edmund de Waal, author of ‘Hare With The Amber Eyes’

“An absolute triumph.” - Allan Little, BBC correspondent

“Gripping. Finely researched, superbly written and deeply important book.” - Anne Sebba in the Spectator

"Grippingly details events which unfold like a dark thriller… Pick of the Week” - Sydney Morning Herald

“Best 40 books of the year.” - The Economist

The gripping story of an unsolved murder which took place against the extraordinary background of Nazi-occupied Florence during World War Two . . .

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.

Reviews

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

“Harding skillfully and suspensefully recounts the events, their aftermath and the struggles of other earnest investigators over the decades to bring the perpetrators to justice.” Washington Post

“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, author of Hare With The Amber Eyes

“An absolute triumph. Beautifully judged and infused with humanity and empathy. So much more than a mere book'.” Allan Little, BBC correspondent

“"A fascinating tale that tackles the complexities of war crimes investigations and the arduous widening path  of reaching some kind of post war justice." Dan Snow, History Hit podcast

"Harding, whose family knew the Einsteins. grippingly details events which unfold like a dark thriller”. Sydney Morning Herald

“Thomas Harding’s book points to Italians’ suffering in this period—“The Einstein murders were listed as number 2,550 of 5,884 in the ‘Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy’,” the author observes—but its focus is specific. Mr Harding hopes to find the perpetrators of the triple murder and describes the efforts of both Italian and German prosecutors to do so. Doggedly pursuing his own investigation, Mr Harding interviews surviving witnesses and Einstein family members. Most of all, he seeks to find out whether the killings were the result of a vendetta.” The Economist

“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 tells all this with verve and compassion.” The Telegraph

“The Einstein Vendetta snares us with its opening depiction of an agonizing ordeal that culminated in brutal triple murder. It later branches out to chart various individuals’ investigations into tracking down. The account of how an elegant villa became a house of horrors is a queasily gripping piece of narrative nonfiction. Illuminating tangential passages provide context on Italian topics such as the rise of fascism, Jewish persecution, and what Harding calls “the myth of the Good Italians,” which was perpetuated in the postwar years when the country was in denial about, and trying to move on from, its alliance with Nazi Germany. Best of all is the book’s final section, which exerts a thriller-like grip.” Washington Examiner

“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. As a result, the story is a slow burn but the short chapters, with plenty of cliff-hangers, keep the pages turning.” Clare Mulley, The Spectator

“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.

‘Thomas Harding has once again published a captivating non-fiction book.’ Kunstmedien

‘Harding has presented the history in an exceptionally readable way, reports in detail and shows great empathy,’ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

‘This excellently written story seems so outrageous that the reader has absolutely no chance of putting the book down for even a minute,’ Landeszeitung Lüneburger Heide

‘Harding’s book wrestles with the question of whether the Einsteins’ murder was, as one Italian historian who investigated the case later concluded, a spontaneous episode of gratuitous violence, or a more calculated, planned act of vengeance against the only members of the famous scientist’s family the Nazis could lay their hands on’ Times of Israel

‘In The Einstein Vendetta, Harding outlines the anatomy of a case that, over a period of eighty years, was the subject of six investigations conducted by people from four countries . . . The final part, in particular, is compelling due to its account of the investigations, supported by numerous pieces of evidence, and spans the vast arc from the German occupation of Italy to the present day.’ Welt am Sonntag

‘A very worthwhile book.’ Badische Zeitung

‘In this insightful and readable book, Harding covers the great arc from the German occupation of Italy to the investigations of war crimes that still occupy courts today.’ Die Presse (Austria)

Publishers

  • Michael Joseph UK / Commonwealth English (April 2025).

  • Jacoby & Stuart, Germany ( July 2025)

  • Newton Compton, Italy (September 2025)

  • Union Square, USA (January 2026)

  • Arbeiderspers, Netherlands (April 2026)

To pre-order go to this link. To listen to audio extract go to this link