Donald McPhail

"The Guest From Johannesburg" is McPhail's much-anticipated sequel to The Millionaires Cruise. McPhail’s new novel takes enigmatic South African Duff Malone from luxury liners to the earliest days of commercial air travel, from SS Malolo to Pan Am’s Flying Clippers. Inspired by peacemakers like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Joan Baez, McPhail delivers a powerful message of peace, hope and resilience.

“The Millionaires Cruise” was the unique first novel by Donald McPhail, now 79. He was a longtime freelance writer, and for more than forty years a marketing executive in the airline and hospitality industries. Born in Santiago, Chile in 1940, he was raised in Palo Alto, California.

He attended Menlo College, then joined the U.S. navy and spent two years as a deck seaman before qualifying for the Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he lettered in football and baseball. While at the Academy he was drawn to literature and the arts after visits to St. John's College, just outside the Academy’s main gate. He transferred to San Francisco State College, where he graduated in international relations and world literature. McPhail lives in Northern California with his wife Gretchen.