The Einstein Vendetta
Hitler, Mussolini, and a true story of murder
Published on 17. April 2025
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-241-65848-2 (ISBN)
Description
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Hanns and Rudolf - a gripping true story of unsolved murder, war, and injustice in Nazi-occupied Florence
'I absolutely devoured The Einstein Vendetta... Remarkable. Totally compelling' Edmund de Waal
'Can't express how moved I am. An absolute triumph. So much more than a mere book' Allan Little
'Thomas Harding is a researcher of the first rank' Daily Express
'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' Telegraph
'Did the Fuehrer personally order the hit? Doggedly pursuing his own investigation, Mr Harding interviews surviving witnesses and Einstein family members' Economist
__
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.
__________
Praise for Thomas Harding:
Hanns and Rudolf
'A gripping thriller, an unspeakable crime, an essential history' John le Carre
'Thomas Harding has shed intriguing new light on the strange poison of Nazism, and one of its most lethal practitioners... Meticulously researched and deeply felt' Ben Macintyre, Times Book of the Week
'Fascinating and moving...This is a remarkable book, which deserves a wide readership' Max Hastings, Sunday Times
The House by the Lake
'The narrative drive of a great novelist and the meticulous research of a great historian' The Herald
'A passionate memoir about Germany' Neil MacGregor, author of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Germany: Memories of a Nation
'I loved this book. I admire the elegance of it, the hope, the honesty and the generousness with which every resident is given his or her place. It has made me think about our individual parts in the bigger story, and the coming and going-ness of things. It is a book that will stay with me for a very long time' Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
'A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book' Tom Holland, author of Rubicon
'I absolutely devoured The Einstein Vendetta... Remarkable. Totally compelling' Edmund de Waal
'Can't express how moved I am. An absolute triumph. So much more than a mere book' Allan Little
'Thomas Harding is a researcher of the first rank' Daily Express
'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' Telegraph
'Did the Fuehrer personally order the hit? Doggedly pursuing his own investigation, Mr Harding interviews surviving witnesses and Einstein family members' Economist
__
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.
__________
Praise for Thomas Harding:
Hanns and Rudolf
'A gripping thriller, an unspeakable crime, an essential history' John le Carre
'Thomas Harding has shed intriguing new light on the strange poison of Nazism, and one of its most lethal practitioners... Meticulously researched and deeply felt' Ben Macintyre, Times Book of the Week
'Fascinating and moving...This is a remarkable book, which deserves a wide readership' Max Hastings, Sunday Times
The House by the Lake
'The narrative drive of a great novelist and the meticulous research of a great historian' The Herald
'A passionate memoir about Germany' Neil MacGregor, author of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Germany: Memories of a Nation
'I loved this book. I admire the elegance of it, the hope, the honesty and the generousness with which every resident is given his or her place. It has made me think about our individual parts in the bigger story, and the coming and going-ness of things. It is a book that will stay with me for a very long time' Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
'A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book' Tom Holland, author of Rubicon
Reviews / Votes
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 * Scrupulously researched * Herald * 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 * Did the Fuehrer personally order the hit? Doggedly pursuing his own investigation, Mr Harding interviews surviving witnesses and Einstein family members * Economist * A riveting quest for the truth. Harding shines a spotlight on a range of investigators and their dogged detective work . . . Best of all is the book's final section, which exerts a thriller-like grip. Harding's treatment of the investigations comprises open and closed cases, possible suspects and unreliable witnesses, fact-finding trips far and wide, and a momentous discovery * Washington Examiner *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
632 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-65848-2 (9780241658482)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2025
Penguin Books Ltd
€9.49
Available for download
Book
04/2025
MICHAEL JOSEPH
€21.50
Available immediately
Person
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 The Maverick, which was selected by the New York Times as a Critic's Pick for 2023. His most recent book, The Einstein Vendetta (2025), is a true story of betrayal and murder in Nazi-occupied Italy.
You can follow Thomas on Twitter/x @thomasharding
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 The Maverick, which was selected by the New York Times as a Critic's Pick for 2023. His most recent book, The Einstein Vendetta (2025), is a true story of betrayal and murder in Nazi-occupied Italy.
You can follow Thomas on Twitter/x @thomasharding