The Einstein Vendetta: Hitler, Mussolini, and a True Story of Murder

by Thomas Harding

Overview

A true crime investigation into the murder of the relatives of Albert Einstein, set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Florence during WWII.

Florence, August 1944. Fifteen miles southeast of the city, a unit of German soldiers arrive at Il Focardo, the home of Robert Einstein, first cousin of the famous scientist Albert Einstein. Nearby, Robert is hiding out in the Tuscan countryside, while his wife and daughters remain in the villa. Twelve hours later, Nina, Luce, and Anna-Maria are brutally murdered.

In The Einstein Vendetta, Thomas Harding recounts the story of an unthinkable crime, one that unspools to reveal Italy’s brutal wartime history—its fall to fascism, antisemitism, and bitter partisanship—and a family’s search for justice. Vividly told, Harding threads history and detective story to build an unquiet, haunting testimony.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454962991
Publisher:	Union Square & Co.
Publication date:	01/20/2026
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Thomas Harding is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than 16 languages. He has written for the Sunday Times, the Washington Post, and The Guardian, among 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, White Debt. Harding’s previous books have been Sunday Times bestsellers, prize-winning publications and praised by authors including John le Carré, Ben Macintyre, and Max Hastings.

Editorial Reviews

"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

"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

"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."—Clare Mulley, 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 Moorehead, Literary Review

"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 . . . [he] 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

"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, host of Dan Snow's History Hit

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

"Harding’s book points to Italians’ suffering during the summer of 1944. As a world-famous Jew, revered physicist and vocal critic of Nazism, Albert Einstein had long been an assassination target, but he had moved to America in 1933 and was out of reach. Though Hitler could not kill Albert, whom he loathed, he could kill his cousin. Did the Führer personally order the hit? Mr Harding cannot prove it, but some of his sources have no doubt. The murders were not random acts of cruelty, they argue, but deliberate acts of vengeance."—The Economist

“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

From the Publisher