The book was called "The Lost Son of Philomena Lee" -

by MattG, Friday, December 06, 2013, 07:40 (4503 days ago) @ KGB

-- and from what I hear, the title change is appropriate: the book focused a lot more on Michael's life than the movie does. The movie is primarily focused on Philomena and Martin Sixsmith and the search.

I'm sure that they had to tighten the story up a bit to fit 100 minutes, but that seems like a bit of a shame - after all, Michael wasn't just the "lost son" because he was sent away to America.

After researching this a bit more online, there are quite a few dramatic parallels between the "fallen woman" in the Fifties and the "fallen man" in the Eighties, and how both generations were affected by societal/religious attitudes about sexuality.

(Maybe the film addresses this, but I don't know.)

Michael died JUST before the first treatments for AIDS came online, and at a time when there was a lot of reticence to talk about the disease (or even homosexuality) publicly. It looks like his funeral in DC was packed with GOP higher-ups, and not one word was said about his cause of death, or his long-time partner.

I hope that my mom's aunt and uncle don't get "Dan Devined" too badly in the movie, but if so, whatever.