Audiobooks by Thomas Harding

"In July 2012 Thomas Harding’s fourteen-year-old son Kadian was killed in a bicycle accident. Shortly afterwards Thomas began to write. This book is the result. Beginning on the day of Kadian’s death, and continuing to the one-year anniversary, and beyond, Kadian Journal is a record of grief in its rawest form, and of a mind in shock and questioning a strange new reality. Interspersed within the journal are fragments of memory: jewel-bright everyday moments that slowly combine to form a biography of a lost son, and a lost life. Kadian Journal is a document of startling bravery and candour - a description of a family dislocated and united by tragedy, and a beautiful and moving tribute to a son."

Thomas Harding (Author), Thomas Harding (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Einstein Vendetta: Hitler, Mussolini, and a true story of murder

"Brought to you by Penguin. From the Sunday Times bestselling author of HANNS AND RUDOLF, THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE and BLOOD ON THE PAGE, pre-order the gripping story of an unsolved murder which took place against the extraordinary background of Nazi-occupied Florence during World War Two . . . Italy, Summer 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. Having renounced his German citizenship a decade earlier, Albert’s safely in America, well beyond Hitler’s reach. The same is not true for his cousin. Twelve hours after arriving, the soldiers have vanished – and a family is dead. This crime – and what happened next – still haunts those who survived. Who ordered it? Who was involved? And why did they get away with it? This is the untold story of the Einstein vendetta. Praise for Thomas Harding: Hanns and Rudolf 'A gripping thriller, an unspeakable crime, an essential history' John le Carré 'Thomas Harding has shed intriguing new light on the strange poison of Nazism, and one of its most lethal practitioners... Meticulously researched and deeply felt' Ben Macintyre, Times Book of the Week 'Fascinating and moving...This is a remarkable book, which deserves a wide readership' Max Hastings, Sunday Times The House by the Lake 'A passionate memoir about Germany' Neil MacGregor, author of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Germany: Memories of a Nation 'I loved this book. I admire the elegance of it, the hope, the honesty and the generousness with which every resident is given his or her place. It has made me think about our individual parts in the bigger story, and the coming and going-ness of things. It is a book that will stay with me for a very long time' Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry 'A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book' Tom Holland, author of Rubicon © Thomas Harding 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Thomas Harding (Author), Roy McMillan (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Hanns und Rudolf: Der deutsche Jude und die Jagd nach dem Kommandanten von Auschwitz Rudo

"Thomas Harding kannte seinen Großonkel Hanns Alexander als einen freundlichen Mann mit viel Familiensinn, der ein bürgerliches Leben als Bankangestellter in London geführt hatte, sich für die Synagoge engagierte und gerne Witze machte. Seine jüdische Familie stammte aus Berlin und war in den 1930er-Jahren in letzter Minute nach England ins Exil entkommen. Das wussten alle. Ansonsten wurde über den Krieg nicht gesprochen. Erst nach dem Tod von Hanns Alexander erfuhr Harding, dass er ein Nazijäger gewesen war. Er hatte Rudolf Höß, den nach Kriegsende untergetauchten Kommandanten von Auschwitz Rudolf Höß, im Alleingang in seinem Versteck auf einem Bauernhof in Norddeutschland aufgespürt und so dafür gesorgt, dass ihm der Prozess gemacht wurde. 1947 wird Höß im früheren KZ-Auschwitz hingerichtet. Thomas Harding hat mit seinem Buch »Hanns und Rudolf« eine Doppelbiografie über zwei Menschen – Rudolf Höß und Hanns Alexander – geschrieben, die nicht unterschiedlicher sein können und deren Schicksale dramatisch miteinander verbunden sind. »Thomas Harding ist es gelungen, eine sehr lesbare, faktenreiche Doppel-Biografie zu schreiben, die Deutschland aus ganz konträren Seiten beleuchtet. Hier eine liberale, wohlhabende jüdische Familie Alexander; da eine abgestumpfte, gewalttätige und streng katholische Familie Höß. Harding ging der Frage nach, wie ein normaler Mann zu einem der größten Massenmörder in der Geschichte wird. Schließlich traf er die richtige Entscheidung, nicht einen Helden und einen Schurken, sondern zwei Menschen zu porträtieren: Hanns und Rudolf. Deren so verschiedene Lebensläufe erzählt er parallel, spannend und aus nächster Nähe – auf der Grundlage historischer Unterlagen, Familienbriefe und Interviews, unter anderem mit Höß' Tochter.« (NDR-Info)"

Thomas Harding (Author), Patrick Twinem, Sebastian Dunkelberg (Narrator)

Audiobook

Legacy: One Family, a Cup of Tea and the Company that Took On the World

"A panoramic new history of modern Britain, as told through the story of one extraordinary family, and one groundbreaking company. In the early 1800s Lehmann Gluckstein and his family escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe and made their way to Whitechapel in the East End of London. There, starting with nothing, they worked tirelessly to pull themselves out of poverty, creating a small tobacco factory that quickly grew to become the largest catering company in the world: J. Lyons. For over a century, Lyons was everywhere. Its restaurants and corner houses were on every high street, its coffee and tea in every cup, its products in every home. The company transformed the way we eat, drink and are entertained – democratising luxury and globalising our tastes. A story of the virtue of hard work, perseverance and an indomitable spirit in the face of repeated obstacles. “Endlessly fascinating and hard to put down. I read it all in one sitting, enjoying the colour and grandeur ... Full of character and characters, this is a tour de force.” JULIA NEUBERGER"

Thomas Harding (Author), Mark Meadows (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blood on the Page

"June 2006: Allan Chappelow, an award-winning photographer and biographer, was found battered to death, partially burned and buried under four feet of paper at his house in Hampstead. The man eventually convicted of his murder was a Chinese dissident named Wang Yam; a man who claimed to be a key negotiator in the Tiananmen Square protests. Thomas Harding has spent the past two years investigating the case, described by the press as 'the greatest whodunnit’ of recent years, and has unearthed shocking and revelatory new material on the killing."

Thomas Harding (Author), Thomas Harding (Narrator)

Audiobook

The House by the Lake

"In the summer of 1993, Thomas Harding travelled to Germany with his grandmother to visit a house by a lake. It had been a holiday home for her family, that she had been forced to leave as the Nazis swept to power. As he began to piece together the lives of the five families who had lived, he realised that this house had witnessed violence, betrayals and murders, had withstood the trauma of a world war, and the dividing of a nation."

Thomas Harding (Author), Mark Meadows (Narrator)

Audiobook