As the Germans retreated north through Tuscany in the summer of 1944, the Allies close behind them, they massacred a number of Italian civilians. Some murders were clearly reprisals for the killing by partisans of their own soldiers. Others seem harder to comprehend. One such was the shooting of the wife and two daughters of Robert Einstein, first cousin of Albert Einstein. The two men were close, having grown up together, but while Albert had made the United States his home, Robert had chosen to settle in Italy, where he established a flourishing estate famous for its peaches.

Thomas Harding has carved out a niche unravelling unexplained events. The Einstein Vendetta opens with Robert hiding in the woods near his Tuscan villa, fearing that, as a Jew, he might still be a target for the Germans. His Protestant wife and daughters seemed less at risk and had decided to stay in the villa with their cousins and aunt until the Germans had left.

Then a group of soldiers appeared. Not finding Robert, and angry that the house’s occupants denied knowledge of his whereabouts, the soldiers took his wife, Nina, and their two daughters, Luce and Cici, away for questioning, locking the other women in a cellar. Shots and cries were heard. When the