Marianne MacKinnon was born in Germany and was educated at Potsdam, Oxford and at Strathclyde University. At the end of the Second World War she worked for the US and British Military Government in Germany, trained as a nurse in England, and worked in Italy and Spain. In 1961 she accompanied her husband, a British Intelligence Officer, on his posting to Hong Kong, working variously as a translator, Court interpreter and VIP hostess. In more recent years she concentrated on her writing, publishing an award-winning memoir of her life – The Naked Years. Following this, she wrote "The Alien Years" which recalls her experiences in post-war England. Later she also unleashed two critically acclaimed novels, "The Deluge" and "The Quarry".

A Slow Boat to Hong Kong is yet another creation from Marianne MacKinnon which reveals her nostalgic journey experience that takes the readers to their past, to the days before global tourism and packaged holidays. A Slow Boat to Hong Kong summons up the vanished, floating, privileged life of British expatriates.

Marianne MacKinnon shares her experience to her first great sea voyage and life in the Colony in this enchanting, beautifully written memoir – A Slow Boat to Hong Kong. Marianne MacKinnon along with her husband and her three children were making their voyage to Hong Kong, but instead of flying to their destination, they opt for the slow route, traveling by cargo boat through the Suez Canal and across the Indian Ocean, calling in at one exotic port after another.

This Story also recalls scares, violent storms and a period of civil unrest and also presents out great warmth and humor for the readers. In this journey, the author has met local and foreign dignitaries, commercial icons, criminals and Chinese actors. Also she has brought out the joys of motherhood and her inner passage to wider horizons.