ireland   adoption   what happened to epilogue   character name in title   1950s   flashback   u.s. president   church   based on book   19th century   humiliation   mental illness   forgiveness   based on true story   class differences   reference to ronald reagan   catholic   religious intolerance   journalist   2000s   politics   assassination   screaming in pain   catholic guilt   religious bigotry   1860s   american civil war   u.s. senator   washington d.c.   nun   reference to abraham lincoln   laundry   battle   photo album   mourning   white house   slavery   cultural conflict   giving birth   lincoln memorial washington d.c.   teenage pregnancy   natural childbirth   gettysburg address   luxury hotel   debate   confessional   feelings of guilt   civil war   gay son   aids   emancipation   home video   convent   child selling   family conflict   ethical dilemma   teenage mother   withheld information   battle of gettysburg   conflagration   constitutional amendment   presidential cabinet   reference to mary todd lincoln   reference to ulysses s. grant   secession   u.s. senate   year 1865   unknown son   writing a book   mother child separation   8mm film   breech delivery   death from aids   expiation   gay republican   human interest story   labor pains   mortification   reference to jane russell   reference to jayne mansfield   reference to tony blair   religious education   religious guilt   religious hypocrisy   romantic novel   spin doctor   withholding information   year 1955   year 2003   cemetery   writer   speech   battlefield   one word title   mother son relationship   title spoken by character   reporter   premarital sex   loss of son   unemployment   death of child