I’ve seen the film starring Steve Coogan (surprisingly good in a straight role) and Judi Dench (majestic, as always) and one of my kids bought me the book for Christmas. I was hoping the book gave some deeper insights or at least more colour to the story than the film (there’s only so much you can include in 90-ish minutes, so that’s not meant to criticise the film at all) and it didn’t disappoint.

Both the film and the book are summarised in the blurb “the poignant story of a mother and the son she had to give away” and while technically true, the book and the film are actually very different. Philomena fell pregnant in Ireland at a time where unmarried motherhood was not a viable state, so her family sent her to the nuns at Sean Ross Abbey for her confinement and to “look after” her and her child. The details of how the church dealt with the women and children in this situation is well documented, and isn’t flinched-from in this book. The first part of the book covers the three years that Philomena and her son spend at the abbey.

The book then follows Anthony as he is adopted by an American couple, and renamed Michael, and a pretty detailed biography of his life in the USA follows. It’s engaging, and must be very comforting for Philomena to read as she is able to learn more detail of her son’s life, its highs and lows, than she could possibly have hoped to learn. I enjoyed reading this story, but honestly, I was expecting more about Philomena’s search: more of the content of the film. As the bit of book that remained shrank further and further I found myself thinking “but what about Philomena?” She was, after all, the main subject of the feature film, and the book is named after her… but in the book, this aspect of the search is confined to a short portion at the end of the book.

That Philomena’s search isn’t covered in detail (there isn’t much detail to cover, quite honestly) doesn’t detract from the book, other than serving as a bit of a distraction – this book is engaging and an entertaining read. It’s just a surprisingly different focus than the film.

Would recommend!