The Things I Could Prove by Michael P. Andrews | Motivated Savages

The Things I Could Prove

by Michael P. Andrews

A legal-minded examination of evidence, proof, and the stories facts can establish.

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Being right has gotten Michael Andrews into trouble since he was a kid. Eventually, people start paying him for it.

Raised poor in Ithaca, New York, Michael grows up watching his father repair appliances in houses his family could never afford. His mother, Sara, wants something better for him. Michael wants answers—and by thirteen, he is finding some of them in the back of a Cornell law classroom.

That same year, his father comes out as transgender. Michael loves him, but watching his mother struggle leaves him afraid to reveal his own secret. He will spend years defending other people while keeping an essential part of himself hidden.

An injury ends his plans for the Marines. The Navy gives him another beginning. Private investigation finally gives his restless mind somewhere to go.

Michael reads the pages everyone else skips. He finds witnesses missing from police reports, pulls contradictions out of depositions, and helps lawyers prepare cases worth millions. His mouth still gets him into trouble. His refusal to accept an easy answer makes him the person clients call when something does not add up.

At thirty, he meets Bill.

Starting in a one-bedroom apartment, they build a business and a life together. Michael brings the investigations; Bill brings the management experience, the order, and an eye for making a house beautiful. Before long, there are successful companies, expensive cars, and a country home that looks like everything Michael once wanted.

Inside that home, the conversations become harder.

As grief and old fears strain their relationship, Michael reaches for the skills that have always carried him through: working harder, finding the right words, proving his case. This time, the person he is trying to reach is the man he loves.

The Things I Could Prove is an autobiographically inspired novel about growing up gay, escaping poverty, fighting bullies, and building a life around a love that asks more than success can provide. Blunt, intimate, and threaded with investigations and courtroom battles, it follows a man whose greatest strengths cannot protect him from everything.

Book Details:

• Genre: Narrative Nonfiction, Legal nonfiction, true crime
• Format: Paperback