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Home / Series / Breaking Point

Series

Breaking Point

The Breaking Point series follows RAF fighter pilot Johnnie Shaux and mathematician-turned-military analyst Eleanor Rand, later Eleanor Shaux, through the successive years of the Second World War. Johnnie experiences the conflict from cockpits, airfields and operational units, while Eleanor works in headquarters where intelligence, logistics and strategy determine how men, aircraft and weapons will be used.

Across six novels, their relationship develops under prolonged separation, danger and moral pressure as the war moves from the Battle of Britain and the siege of Malta to the bomber offensive, Normandy, the V-weapons campaign, the Ardennes and the Manhattan Project. By placing fictional protagonists beside documented commanders and political leaders, the series connects individual combat with the decisions made behind it and repeatedly questions the human cost of total war.

Reading order

Books in this series (4 books)

A Slender Thread cover

#1 – A Slender Thread

John Rhodes

In 1942, the struggle for the Mediterranean places Malta and the British position in Egypt under extreme pressure. Axis aircraft and submarines threaten the island’s supply line while Erwin Rommel’s army advances across North Africa. RAF pilot Johnnie Shaux returns to a campaign defined by exhausted…

Trial and Tribulation cover

#2 – Trial and Tribulation

John Rhodes

In 1943, the Allied bomber offensive against Germany has become a central instrument of the war. Eleanor Shaux is ordered to help identify targets capable of weakening the German economy, forcing her through Anglo-American rivalries, military bureaucracy and institutions that resist the authority of a woman…

Dangers and Difficulties cover

#3 – Dangers and Difficulties

John Rhodes

In 1944, Johnnie Shaux completes specialist training and reaches Normandy aboard one of the early landing craft, tasked with directing air support for troops fighting their way off the beaches. Eleanor Shaux follows the invasion from Allied headquarters in England, where elaborate plans immediately collide with…

Triumph and Tragedy cover

#4 – Triumph and Tragedy

John Rhodes

In 1945, Germany is collapsing under Allied pressure while the Pacific War continues to consume men and resources. Eleanor Shaux is brought into the Manhattan Project and must consider how a weapon of extraordinary destructive power might end the war against Japan. The assignment places her…