Philomena by Martin Sixsmith

My sin is that I love men.
  --Michael Hess

Philomena was originally published as The Lost Child of Philomena Lee in 2009 (Macmillan); the title was presumably changed to take advantage of the recent movie (written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope and directed by Stephen Frears) but the original title is more accurate.  Basically, the book is about the life of Michael Hess (ne Anthony Lee) while the movie is about his mother's search for him, with the help of journalist Sixsmith.  By the time Philomena and Martin found out what had happened to her son, whom Catholic nuns had essentially sold to an American couple in St. Louis, Anthony was long dead, having died from AIDS at 43.

Sixsmith is very careful to avoid drawing psychological conclusions from his detailed research into Anthony Lee's life as a closeted gay man who worked as a lawyer for the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, but it is clear that some of Lee's self-loathing came from being adopted, being gay, being Roman Catholic and working for Republicans.  When Anthony and Philomena went to Ireland to find each other they were completely stonewalled by the nuns; they had waited for three years after Anthony had been born to give him up for adoption, mainly so that Philomena could work for them during that time.  Sixsmith was able to use his contacts to find out about Anthony and eventually he and Philomena were able to find Anthony's partner, who had film of their life together.

Sixsmith's book is not only a detailed biography of a man torn between Ireland and his home and adoptive parents in America, it's also a detailed reminder of how little was done originally to help the victims of AIDS.