Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Lily Andrews is talking with Anthony DeSantis, author of The Stowaway in First Class.

FQ: Your father seemed to be living a good life way before he said "yes" to a stranger offering a dangerous, illegal trip to America. What do you think overrode his usual caution that night?

DESANTIS: Although he had many negative thoughts and serious misgivings about what he was about to do, he could not verify or prove any of them. All he was sure of was that this stranger knew all about his cousin Frank back in America and the thought of Frank about to lose a year’s salary if he refused to go was more than Guy could bear. They had written to each other several times previously about finding Guy a way to come to America. What really bothered him was why he had not heard about this from his cousin and why he had to leave so suddenly, without time to see his parents in Italy or his friends in Paris, especially Marie. When the stranger gave him the ultimatum, to either “come with me tonight or your cousin loses everything,” Guy’s love and loyalty to his cousin won the confusing battle in his head.

FQ: The anchor chain scene is one of the most suspenseful moments in the book. Since your father couldn't swim and the climb was nearly fifty feet, how much of that terror came from his actual words?

DESANTIS: The description of that scene was taken directly from the transcript of the video tape I had made of him telling me the whole story in 1984. On the video, you can hear the terror in his voice as he described what he was feeling. Especially on the way down the anchor chain, as he was having to look down at the chain and the water, his actual words are in the book: “He knew that if he fell, he would be like a stone and would go right to the bottom.”

FQ: Ernesto had already been caught twice trying to stow away to America. What do you think gave him the courage to try a third time?

DESANTIS: He was determined to make it to America and join his brother in Detroit. He did not know how or when that was going to happen, but he never gave up on the idea, When he saw the opportunity Guy was being offered, and someone was actually going to help them along the way, he quickly decided to give it another try. He would not have done it again on his own.

FQ: When your father realized he was set up and Frank wasn't coming to meet him at the dock, you describe a moment where all his hope collapsed. Was there a specific gesture from him that helped you capture that feeling of being completely alone in a strange country?

DESANTIS: When Guy was left with the mobsters after getting off the boat, he asked the question “Where’s my cousin?” At that point, he was sternly rebuked in Italian, “Stop talking! You have no idea what kind of bad trouble you are in! You had better keep your mouth shut!”

It was at this moment that he realized it had all been a fraud and his emotions showed the level of fear that he was experiencing. As he shared that event with me, I could see the terror in his face and hear the fright in his voice.

FQ: Marie waited for years to learn that your father had written to her all along. When he finally discovered that her family had hidden his letters, how did he respond?

DESANTIS: Marie waited 36 years to learn the truth, that her parents and sister had hidden the letters from her all those years. As my father now heard the story 57 years later, he was shocked and saddened by the deviousness of her family. However, when he finally realized why she never responded to his letters, the truth actually lifted his spirits in a strange way. He was actually relieved to know Marie’s silence was not born of anger but simply ignorance. She just did not know he had tried repeatedly to write to her.

FQ: You recorded your father telling this story on video in 1984, but you didn't write the book until decades later. What finally pushed you to bring it to the page?

DESANTIS: Like many of us with good intentions, life just got in the way. I had two successful careers, a family, and a busy life. I just never made the time. Not until I experienced the medical incident that almost ended my life, did I realize the story of my father’s incredible journey would have ended as well. It was during my recovery from this traumatic episode in my life that the story was finally set on paper. It took almost 40 years from the time I recorded him telling the story to the time I finally began writing it.

FQ: You mentioned a medical incident that almost cost you your life. Can you share what happened and how that may have motivated you to start writing this book?

DESANTIS: Sure, I would be happy to explain what happened. On February 28, 2022, I was flying my single-engine Cirrus SR-22 on a solo flight practicing for a trip to the Florida Keys with my wife Judy. I had been flying for 53 years as a military pilot, commercial pilot, and general aviation pilot. I had earned the prestigious Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award from the FAA. I was in good health and in great shape. Retired life was good. The next day, during a simple surgical procedure, I almost died from an ischemic stroke. After a month-long recovery in ICU and a rehab center, I was sent home to try to regain some semblance of my former life. As I pondered why my life had been spared, I realized that my purpose was now to finally write my father’s story.

FQ: Now that your father's story is finally out, are there other family stories that you feel compelled to tell?

DESANTIS: I have many stories I can tell, but for the last six months I have been collaborating with an award-winning screenwriter/director who has offered to adapt the book into a full-length motion picture. I am excited about getting my father’s story onto the big screen and it leaves little time for me to concentrate on anything else!

FQ: If your father could say one thing to everyone who reads this book, what do you think that would be?

DESANTIS: America is one of the few places on earth where a man can start with nothing and change his family’s legacy forever. It is worth every bit of the risk, hard work, and persistence.

FQ: What's the one thing you hope readers take away from his journey?

DESANTIS: Immigration today is a controversial topic, affecting our nation’s culture and causing great political divide. It is also an extremely complicated subject that has evolved greatly over the past one hundred years since my father’s journey. The one thing I would want readers to take away is this:

In spite of the sometimes-intense national debate over immigration, America is still a land of opportunity for those who come here seeking a better life, are willing to work hard, refrain from criminal activity, and who are willing to assimilate into our nation’s culture.

Where else could a poor immigrant unknowingly caught up in an illicit scheme enter the country illegally, eventually become a productive U.S. citizen, and in only one generation, change his family’s future legacy and enable his son to receive a full scholarship to a prestigious military academy in his newly adopted country?

This book about my father’s journey is a love letter to the American Dream.

Read the Review