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 this fascinating event, Thomas Harding discusses his new book. The Einstein Vendetta: Hitler, Mussolini, and a Murder That Haunts History, with Clare Mulley (Agent Zo). It's a previously untold true crime story that unspools to reveal Italy’s brutal wartime history – its fall to fascism, antisemitism and bitter partisanship – and a family’s search for justice.
About Thomas Harding
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 most recently The Maverick, which was selected by the New York Times as a Critic’s Pick for 2023.
About Clare Mulley
Clare Mulley is an award-winning author and historian. All her books are under option for TV and film, and widely translated. A regular contributor to TV (BBC’s Rise of the Nazis and Newsnight, Channel 5’s Secret History of WW2, and Adolf & Eva), radio (Radio 4 Today, Woman’s Hour, Great Lives, PM) and podcasts (Spectator, BBC History Extra, Dan Snow’s History Hit etc), and popular public speaker, Clare also writes and reviews non-fiction for the Telegraph, Spectator and History Today. Her latest book, Agent Zo: The Untold Story of Fearless WW2 Resistance Soldier Elzbieta Zawacka, has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction.
