A friend of mine suggested I read this and another friend of mine had told me she loved the movie, and I thought I'd better read it before seeing it. This was absolutely heartbreaking and riveting material. It exposes the history of Irish adoptions to the United States in the 1950s by following one remarkable story. I was especially engrossed because my late father in law was adopted around the same time, born to an unwed Irish Catholic mother. I will say that although I really loved this book, I wish there was more of Philomena's story included. We follow her for the first quarter of the book or so, and then don't hear from her again until the very end. Now to watch the film...