A SLENDER THREAD

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.