"Separate Truth" is written from the perspective of Willie, a homeless man living in New York City. He runs an unofficial homeless shelter in a vacant building with the financial help of the building's wealthy owner. One day, Willie sees Ann, a face from his past in San Francisco. They are both older now as it has been 20 years since they last spent some time together but he is still haunted by the story she told him about her experiences at the log cabin owned by her family on Heron Lake in Michigan. Her story began in late autumn in 1943. Ann is an orphan and lives with her aunt and uncle. When her grandmother suggests a week's holiday at Heron Lake, Ann welcomes the diversion and a chance to revisit the family cabin. She is also looking forward to seeing Oscar, the caretaker, who taught her to fish and water-ski, and was a friend and companion. Ann has a secret that she guards closely - a marriage proposal from her soldier-sweetheart, Patrick, who is not from the class of people her grandmother would approve of. Does she sell her obedience or listen to her heart? Willie is always wondering about the missing parts of Ann's tale and hopes that she'll finally finish it now that they have reunited in New York.

I was immediately drawn into Ann's story. Michael J. McManus is a masterful storyteller. His prose is simple, yet elegant, and his characters come to life on the pages. The wilderness descriptions and winter scenes on Lake Heron are beautifully rendered, and the working partnership between Ann and Oscar is quite memorable. Another important aspect of "Separate Truth" is the author's treatment of the tendency of people to pigeonhole others based on appearance, family or economic status, as Granny Williams does regarding Patrick, and as many of us do with respect to the homeless men and bag ladies seen in almost any town or city in this country. Each of us has a story, a Separate Truth. This is a wonderful and moving tale that is well worth reading.

"Separate Truth" is the story of how a bum’s life is transformed when he meets another bag lady in the streets and tells him her life story, which quickly captivates him and lures him to a path that he was destined to take. He meets her again years later and hears a longer version of her story that takes him on a journey that will transform his life. He hears about the bag lady as a young girl named Ann who is disinherited from her rich, but controlling grandmother, Helen Williams, when she marries a man beneath her in social status, class, and wealth. Ann is abandoned at her grandmother’s lake house in Heron Lake to fend for herself, but an old family friend and caretaker, Oscar, takes her in. From there, Ann’s life becomes a series of misfortunes that will eventually drive her to the streets.

Michael J. McManus weaves a wonderful tale of twists and turns that leads the readers to care for the characters in the book as he brings them to life with a sensitivity and generosity that warms the spirit. Characters like Oscar and Alma are the backbone of the storyline and I enjoyed reading about them immensely. I especially loved the unique and creative premise about two homeless people sharing their life stories and being destined to play a role in each other’s lives. This book made me smile in many places and made me wish I could live in a cabin in the woods like Heron Lake.

A bag lady (Ann) and a street bum (Willy) met on the streets of New York on a cold wintry day in 1990. Willy takes Ann to a warehouse he uses as a homeless shelter. They spend the night with Ann telling most of her life story. Ann’s story transports us twenty years back in time to 1943, to Lake Herron, Michigan. Ann is visiting Granny Williams in her big estate home on the lake. Granny Williams is rich and demanding and Ann is young and in love with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, Patrick Michael O’Connor. When Ann refuses to give up Patrick, Granny deserts her and disowns her. Anne has many struggles, heartbreaks and tragedies as she learns to survive on her own with the help of Oscar, the caretaker and long-time friend, and Alma, the owner of the local general store. When morning comes Willy finds that Ann is gone and he has not heard how the story ends. He feels driven to go to Heron Lake and find out the ending for himself.

“Separate Truth” is a wonderful story. It will make you cry and laugh and make you furious but it will keep you spellbound and reading way into the night. Michael McManus has written a book that emotionally attached me to each character. I was immediately pulled into the story and I was really sorry to finish and leave my new friends behind. This is a five star romantic tear jerker with a touch of suspense. It would also make an award winning movie. I advise all readers looking for a good story with a happy ending and lots of excitement in between not to miss out on reading “Separate Truth”.

"Separate Truth" is narrated by one of its protagonists, Willie Baker, who is a homeless bum with a hippie past. When he meets Ann, an elderly bag lady in New York, he becomes fascinated with her life story. She tells him of her privileged life in Michigan and how her parents died together in an accident. Left to the care of her rich grandmother, she falls in love with Patrick, a man below her class. It is during the Second World war and Patrick is in Europe fighting for the Allied forces. Abandoned by her grandmother for agreeing to marry Patrick, Ana's life will take extraordinary twists and turns until she ends up living in the streets as a bag lady. Ana never tells Willie the complete story and when he goes on a quest to find out for himself, the novel will take a twist that no one would have suspected.

Once again, Michael McManus succeeds in writing a novel that is not only entertaining but also heart-wrenching. "Separate Truth" is a story that inspires because it offers love, hope and redemption, in the midst of a seemingly desperate situation. The author's descriptive style flows quite smoothly and brings the reader to the beauty and tranquility of a ranch in northern Michigan. It is also a tribute to his fertile imagination that this narrative takes countless twists and turns without veering too far away from the main plot. The story is set in the period 1940 to 1990's, and offers us a glimpse of history and how it affects the lives of ordinary people. McManus's characters are quite defined as villains and heroes, perhaps with the exception of the grandmother, and you would think that the plot will be predictable. As I read the book, however, I find myself unable to guess the numerous conflicts and denouement that make this story very interesting.