The Einstein Vendetta

Florence, August 1944. Fifteen miles south-east of the city, a unit of German soldiers arrive at Il Focardo, the home of Robert Einstein. Nearby, Robert is hiding out in the Tuscan countryside, while his wife and two daughters remain in the villa. The Germans knock hard. The owner of the house, Nina Einstein, answers the door. ‘Where is your husband, Robert Einstein?’, she is asked, ‘Where is Robert Einstein, the first cousin of the world-famous Albert Einstein?’ Twelve hours later, Nina, Luce and Anna-Maria are brutally murdered. The following day, British troops arrive in the area, pushing the German forces away from Florence to the north. A murder investigation is launched but the perpetrators never found. 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 Vividly told, drawing on previously unpublished archival sources and first-hand accounts, Harding threads history and detective story to build an unquiet, haunting testimony.