Naked Hero starts with The Perfect Man - Calum Macleod who only appears in the prologue.
The prologue is set ten years before the actual story and gives a glimpse at the relationship that existed between Lewis and his father. It takes place on Lewis itself, part of The Hebrides, where the family are on holiday. It's the island after which Lewis was named and the historical seat of the Macleod clan before they were forced off by the Mackenzies.
So why is Calum Macleod perfect in Lewis's eyes?
Simple - because his love for his son was unconditional and he had no problem in expressing that through his support and his affection. An early death, tragic as it was, ensured that he kept that perfect image. Teenage boys and their fathers tend to clash, so that phase of their relationship never occured due to this untimely demise. The trauma of this event shapes Lewis's life. It propels him to greatness - to achieve the dream that father and son shared - that one day he would win the Wimbledon crown. Making the ghost of his father proud is a powerful theme that runs through the books.
So there he is - The Perfect Man. The man that all suitors will be compared against, and that's a heck of a big ask.
Here's what Lewis has to say about him...
“It’s funny - my dad never pushed me in any way. He had no great unfulfilled dreams that he wanted to live out through his son, or saw me as a ticket to the high life, like a lot of other tennis parents see their kids. He just encouraged me to do it if I wanted to. And of course, I did- I wanted to show off to him, so he would be proud of his wee boy. But he never pushed me, not in the way that was needed to become really good...” Lewis paused. He’d never opened up like this to anyone – not even to Lee. Yet somehow in this setting he felt comfortable enough, and after so many years, it needed to be said, even if he did so in a stuttering choked voice. “If he had lived, then you probably would never have heard of me... but he didn’t... so you did. The whole world got to hear of me because he died... and because I still wanted to make him proud of me... There was no other tennis parent that pushed harder than he eventually did... even if it was from the grave. But he’s done his job now...”
The prologue is set ten years before the actual story and gives a glimpse at the relationship that existed between Lewis and his father. It takes place on Lewis itself, part of The Hebrides, where the family are on holiday. It's the island after which Lewis was named and the historical seat of the Macleod clan before they were forced off by the Mackenzies.
So why is Calum Macleod perfect in Lewis's eyes?
Simple - because his love for his son was unconditional and he had no problem in expressing that through his support and his affection. An early death, tragic as it was, ensured that he kept that perfect image. Teenage boys and their fathers tend to clash, so that phase of their relationship never occured due to this untimely demise. The trauma of this event shapes Lewis's life. It propels him to greatness - to achieve the dream that father and son shared - that one day he would win the Wimbledon crown. Making the ghost of his father proud is a powerful theme that runs through the books.
So there he is - The Perfect Man. The man that all suitors will be compared against, and that's a heck of a big ask.
Here's what Lewis has to say about him...
“It’s funny - my dad never pushed me in any way. He had no great unfulfilled dreams that he wanted to live out through his son, or saw me as a ticket to the high life, like a lot of other tennis parents see their kids. He just encouraged me to do it if I wanted to. And of course, I did- I wanted to show off to him, so he would be proud of his wee boy. But he never pushed me, not in the way that was needed to become really good...” Lewis paused. He’d never opened up like this to anyone – not even to Lee. Yet somehow in this setting he felt comfortable enough, and after so many years, it needed to be said, even if he did so in a stuttering choked voice. “If he had lived, then you probably would never have heard of me... but he didn’t... so you did. The whole world got to hear of me because he died... and because I still wanted to make him proud of me... There was no other tennis parent that pushed harder than he eventually did... even if it was from the grave. But he’s done his job now...”