A Slender Thread: A Novel of World War II

by John Rhodes

Overview

1942: Amid the Siege of Malta, one of the most crucial battles in modern history, only extraordinary courage and willpower can turn looming defeat into victory.

The war in the Mediterranean, 1942: The outcome of World War II hangs, as Churchill says, by "a slender thread." Erwin Rommel, Hitler's "Desert Fox," is poised to defeat the reeling British army in Egypt and thwart America's first operation in Europe. Only the tiny, embattled, half-starved Mediterranean island of Malta stands in Rommel's way.

Will heroism and devotion be enough to stave off the implacable forces of Hitler's all-conquering Third Reich and Mussolini's new Roman Empire? And, as the battle rages, the relentless strains of war threaten not only the survival of Malta but also the survival of Johnnie and Eleanor's relationship. Will their future together be yet another casualty of war?

John Rhodes, author of the award-winning Breaking Point series, weaves the fictional story of fighter pilot Johnnie Shaux and military strategist Eleanor Rand into the heartbreaking, inspiring historical fabric of World War II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735373621
Publisher:	Rhodes, John
Publication date:	03/15/2022
Series:	Breaking Point Series , #3
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.68(d)

Editorial Reviews

2022-03-07
In this historical novel set during World War II, a British pilot’s dangerous service takes a toll on his marriage.

In 1942, Malta has been reduced to a “land of privation of suffering” but remains a strategically crucial territory despite its small size. Eleanor Shaux, stationed in Malta with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, captures the significance of the island succinctly in dialogue: “If we lose Malta, we lose the Med. If we lose the Med, we lose the Suez Canal and our access to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. If we lose that, we lose the war.” To make matters worse, a massive confrontation looms with Gen. Erwin Rommel, the most skilled tactician in the German military, who has Malta in his sights. Eleanor’s husband, Johnnie Shaux, is in the Royal Air Force, and he’s known as a “fighter pilot’s fighter pilot” who braves danger repeatedly and believes his death will come in the “blinding glare of the killing fields.” The situation challenges the couple’s marriage, and Eleanor wonders if she’s complicit in Johnnie’s near-certain fate—that she’s “sacrificed her husband to the gods of war.” Rhodes’ knowledge of the historical circumstances of this tale, which crescendo with the siege of Malta, is magisterial—rigorous and granular but also with an impressive sense of context. He also sensitively captures the psyche of the fighter pilot, who must strenuously maintain vigilance and composure. The prose strains unsuccessfully for poetic profundity at times, as in this description of the military office’s disheveled design: “It was easy to get lost, and Eleanor sometimes wondered if the mythical Minotaur—half man, half bull—would suddenly spring, snarling, from around some stygian corner.” However, these moments don’t undermine the novel’s overall power, which largely lies in its historical astuteness.

An often compelling wartime drama despite uneven prose.

Kirkus Reviews