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The Resource Philomena : a mother, her son, and a fifty-year search, Martin Sixsmith

Philomena : a mother, her son, and a fifty-year search, Martin Sixsmith

Creator
Contributor
Summary
When she fell pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to the convent at Roscrea in Co. Tipperary 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. Coerced into signing a document promising never to attempt to see her child again, she nonetheless spent the next fifty years secretly searching for him, unaware that he was searching for her from across the Atlantic. Philomena's son, renamed Michael Hess, 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. Philomena is the tale of a mother and a son whose lives were scarred by the forces of hypocrisy on both sides of the Atlantic and of the secrets they were forced to keep. With a foreword by Judi Dench, Martin Sixsmith's book is a compelling and deeply moving narrative of human love and loss, both heartbreaking yet ultimately redemptive
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xi, 452 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Note
  • Film tie-in
  • Originally published: as The lost child of Philomena Lee. London: Macmillan, 2009
  • With a foreword by Dame Judi Dench
  • "The poignant true story of a mother and the son she had to give away" -- Cover
Isbn
9781447245223
Instance
Label
Philomena : a mother, her son, and a fifty-year search
Title
Philomena
Title remainder
a mother, her son, and a fifty-year search
Statement of responsibility
Martin Sixsmith
Title variation
Lost child of Philomena Lee
Creator
Contributor
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
When she fell pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to the convent at Roscrea in Co. Tipperary 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. Coerced into signing a document promising never to attempt to see her child again, she nonetheless spent the next fifty years secretly searching for him, unaware that he was searching for her from across the Atlantic. Philomena's son, renamed Michael Hess, 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. Philomena is the tale of a mother and a son whose lives were scarred by the forces of hypocrisy on both sides of the Atlantic and of the secrets they were forced to keep. With a foreword by Judi Dench, Martin Sixsmith's book is a compelling and deeply moving narrative of human love and loss, both heartbreaking yet ultimately redemptive
Member of
Biography type
individual biography
Cataloging source
UKMGB
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/collectionName
Philomena (Motion picture : 2013)
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Sixsmith, Martin
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • portraits
  • plates
Index
no index present
Literary form
non fiction
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorDate
1934-
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
Dench, Judi
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Lee, Philomena
  • Hess, Michael A
  • Teenage mothers
  • Unmarried mothers
  • Illegitimate children
  • Birthparents
  • Politicians
  • Lawyers
Target audience
adult
Label
Philomena : a mother, her son, and a fifty-year search, Martin Sixsmith
Instantiates
Publication
Note
  • Film tie-in
  • Originally published: as The lost child of Philomena Lee. London: Macmillan, 2009
  • With a foreword by Dame Judi Dench
  • "The poignant true story of a mother and the son she had to give away" -- Cover
Carrier category
volume
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Control code
000052144496
Dimensions
20 cm.
Extent
xi, 452 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Form of item
regular print reproduction
Isbn
9781447245223
Isbn Type
(paperback)
Other physical details
illustrations, portraits.
System control number
(OCoLC)856195659
Label
Philomena : a mother, her son, and a fifty-year search, Martin Sixsmith
Publication
Note
  • Film tie-in
  • Originally published: as The lost child of Philomena Lee. London: Macmillan, 2009
  • With a foreword by Dame Judi Dench
  • "The poignant true story of a mother and the son she had to give away" -- Cover
Carrier category
volume
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Control code
000052144496
Dimensions
20 cm.
Extent
xi, 452 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Form of item
regular print reproduction
Isbn
9781447245223
Isbn Type
(paperback)
Other physical details
illustrations, portraits.
System control number
(OCoLC)856195659

Subject

Genre

Member of

Library Locations

    • Lionel Bowen Library and Community CentreBorrow it
      669-673 Anzac Parade, Marouba, NSW, 2035, AU
      -33.938111 151.237977

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