In the mid-19th century, three Jewish brothers emigrate from Bavaria to America. In the deep South they start a small shop in fabrics. They become rich in the cotton trade. Their family business develops over the years into a dizzying financial empire that is passed on from generation to generation and keeps getting bigger and bigger. In 2008 it is partly responsible for the financial and banking crisis. This is how Lehman Brothers ruins itself.

In Lehman Trilogy, the Italian author Stefano Massini wrote not only the story of a family but also the history of ruthless American capitalism. Slavery and industrialisation, war and new technological developments: no matter what is happening in America and even worldwide, the Lehmans always know how to make good money from it. Everything they plan to do – including getting married and having children – is tested in advance against the question: what will it produce?

GUY CASSIERS ABOUT LEHMAN TRILOGY

'We follow a family for one hundred and seventy-five years, from the moment the first Lehman arrives in New York with only a suitcase, while simultaneously following the history of banking. It is a fable about capitalism that shows in detail how money has always been a driving factor in how we have continued to develop. So we get not only the story of how the financial world has had an increasing impact on our daily existence, but also a family tragedy. It is about America then, but at the same time also about what America still means to us here in Europe. That's why it's so relevant.'