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Philomena

A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty-Year Search

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Judi Dench: the heartbreaking true story of an Irishwoman and the secret she kept for 50 years When she became pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to a convent to be looked after as a " fallen woman." Then the nuns took her baby from her and sold him, like thousands of others, to America for adoption. Fifty years later, Philomena decided to find him. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Philomena' s son was trying to find her. Renamed Michael Hess, he had become a leading lawyer in the first Bush administration, and he struggled to hide secrets that would jeopardize his career in the Republican Party and endanger his quest to find his mother. A gripping exposE told with novelistic intrigue, Philomena pulls back the curtain on the role of the Catholic Church in forced adoptions and on the love between a mother and son who endured a lifelong separatio
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    • AudioFile Magazine
      In this moving story--the inspiration for the hugely popular film--narrator John Curless effortlessly moves between Ireland and the U.S. many times as Philomena Lee seeks her son. Curless captures many accents and personalities as he compassionately recounts this sad but uplifting story about a baby being taken from his young, unwed mother in 1950s Ireland. Martin Sixsmith provides copious details about Anthony Lee/Michael Hess, including his adoption and impressive career as a high-ranking member of the Republican party. Particularly fascinating is Curless's rendering of the many sides of Michael, which are missing from the movie. The conclusion is matchless: a note from Dame Judi Dench who reveals how honored she felt to play this brave and remarkable woman in the movie. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      April 1, 2014

      Originally published in 2009, this is the true story of Irishwoman Philomena Lee and the child she gave up for adoption. Unlike the Oscar-nominated film of the same name, which focuses on the unwed mother's search 50 years later for her son, the book is concerned with the child's adult life and his struggles with his sexuality. Michael Anthony Hess, the toddler adopted by an American couple in 1955, grew up to become a gay Republican lawyer who died of AIDS at the age of 43. English actor John Curless provides a clear and well-paced narration, with a foreword by Dame Judi Dench (who stars in the film). VERDICT Of interest to fans of mother-child tales or family drama. ["Sixsmith's narrative, while emotionally compelling, lacks context and verges at times on the sensationalistic, with invented dialog and narration," read the review of the Penguin hc, LJ 9/1/13.]--Denise A. Garofalo, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY

      Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 22, 2013
      In 1952, Philomena Lee, a young unwed Irish Catholic woman, was sent away to an abbey in County Tipperary to await the birth of her illegitimate child. Journalist Sixsmith (Russia: A 1,000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East) chillingly recounts the subsequent events. After surviving a harrowing breech birth attended to only by an inexperienced nun, Philomena learned she had to work in the abbey for three years to pay off the cost of her care. She rose at 6 a.m. each day to feed her son, Anthony, before attending Mass and spending the next several hours sweating in the abbey’s laundry room. But the worst was yet to come. At the end of Philomena’s service, Anthony was taken from her to be placed with “any person” the abbey’s Superioress deemed “fit and proper”—a practice condoned by the Catholic Church and facilitated by the Irish government. An American couple adopted Anthony, took him to the States, and changed his name to Michael Hess. This part of the book is riveting, but the 50-year search promised in the subtitle takes a backseat to Michael’s suburban upbringing and his experiences as a gay man; Philomena all but disappears. The much-anticipated ending of this mother-and-son saga is hurried, incomplete, and unsatisfying. 36 b&w photos. Agent: Peter Straus, Rogers, Coleridge & White.

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