Author

With a heritage of Scottish and Italian bloodlines, author James McCreath comes by his motivation for writing history, romance, passion and soccer honesty. Renaldo is the culmination of years of meticulous research, and his yearning to tell this story about the greatest sport on earth. Rich with drama, James’s book has been adapted into the nationally broadcast short film “A Life’s Passion.”

James McCreath at Book Launch

An Intimate Exploration of the Meaning of Hope

by James McCreath

Without hope, Renaldo would never have been written. At a time in my life when despair could have easily overwhelmed me, I was driven to produce this story of a special young man living in a country that seemed to be without hope. As fate would have it, the events that actually happened in Argentina in 1978 gave an entire nation more hope than they had ever experienced.

There have been two events in my life that have shaped my destiny. The first was the sudden death of my mother, Myrtle, when I was 19 and she was only 46. The second was the suicide of my wife, Carol, a week after her 40th birthday.

In the first instance, I was the eldest of four children, my sister being only seven at the time. I felt that I must set an example and give my two brothers and sister hope that our mother had found eternal peace, and her spirit would always be with us.

In the second instance, I had two young daughters, aged 10 and 12, that needed constant reassurance and understanding that the life their mother had chosen to surrender was just too much to bear, and that she, like my mother before her, was now at peace, and in heaven watching over them every day.

It was the hope that I could make a difference in the lives of the people left behind that inspired me to carry on and shun despair. I left university shortly after my mother’s death, and guided our family business for the next 40 years. I am proud to say that we four siblings still communicate frequently, even though we are geographically many miles apart.

Shortly after my wife passed, a story I had been formulating in my mind during her painful illness began to pour onto the pages on my computer. This fictional story was something I could control, and over the seven years it took to complete, writing was my therapy. This is why Renaldo came to be.

My young daughters are now wonderful, well-adjusted women, the eldest living and working in London England, and the youngest having just given birth to a baby daughter. My hope for them as they were growing up was that they would not fall into despair after the loss of their mum.

We were fortunate to find an Angel, a beautiful woman by the name of Annie, who had also suffered an unthinkable setback. Annie had two children as well, and with love and hope for a future together, we merged our two families and forged a union that has produced many joyous years, and at this point two granddaughters.

Hope for a brighter day tomorrow kept us all going, filled our lives with love and happiness, and allowed me to write Renaldo.