Italy, August 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. Twelve hours after arriving, the soldiers have vanished – and a family is dead.

This crime – and what happened next – still haunts those who survived. In The Einstein Vendetta, Thomas Harding recounts the story of an until-now untold true 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.