The book that inspired the Academy Award-nominated film, starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan. "The touching story of a mother's fifty-year search for her son." Sunday Times When she fell pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to a convent to be looked after as a fallen woman. She cared for her baby for three years until the Church took him from her and sold him, like countless others, to America for adoption. Philomena's son grew up to be a top Washington lawyer and a leading Republican official in the Reagan and Bush administrations. But he was a gay man in a homophobic party where he had to conceal not only his sexuality but, eventually, the fact that he had AIDs. With little time left, he returned to Ireland and the convent where he was born: his desperate quest to find his mother before he died left a legacy that was to unfold with unexpected consequences for all involved. PRAISE FOR PHILOMENA "The extraordinary story of an extraordinary woman . . . Philomena's tale is special. . . . It reveals a remarkable human being with astonishing fortitude and a truly humbling willingness to forgive" Judi Dench, from the Foreword "A searingly poignant account of forced adoption and its consequences." Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Riveting . . . Sixsmith chillingly recounts . . . this mother-and-son saga." Publishers Weekly "Heartbreaking . . . a story that needed to be told." The Independent