ireland   adoption   what happened to epilogue   character name in title   1950s   flashback   church   humiliation   forgiveness   based on true story   class differences   reference to ronald reagan   catholic   religious intolerance   journalist   2000s   screaming in pain   catholic guilt   religious bigotry   washington d.c.   nun   laundry   photo album   giving birth   lincoln memorial washington d.c.   teenage pregnancy   natural childbirth   luxury hotel   confessional   feelings of guilt   gay son   aids   home video   convent   child selling   teenage mother   withheld information   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   one word title   mother son relationship   title spoken by character   reporter   premarital sex   loss of son   unemployment