East West Street

When human rights lawyer Philippe Sands received an invitation to deliver a lecture in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, he began to uncover a series of extraordinary historical coincidences. It set him on a quest that would take him halfway around the world in an exploration of the origins of international law and the pursuit of his own secret family history, beginning and ending with the last day of the Nuremberg trial. Part historical detective story, part family history, part legal thriller, EAST WEST STREET is a powerful meditation on the way memory, crime and guilt leave scars across generations, and the haunting gaps left by the secrets of others.

Philippe Sands is Professor of Public Understanding of Law at UCL, visiting professor at Harvard Law School and a practising barrister. He is the author of numerous prize-winning books, including East West Street (2016), The Ratline (2020), The Last Colony (2022) and 38 Londres Street (2025). He is the recipient of the 2026 Friedenspreis, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. He has served as President of English PEN and as a member of the board of the Hay Festival of Arts and Literature.