Thanks chris, I will put the Scipio book on my list to get and let you know. I think we have somewhat different tastes in literature, but we shall see.
I thought the film of Philomena was a great deal better than the book! I simply wasn't that interested in the boy's side of things, more in the totally dreadful story of all those women whose babies were sold to Americans. I could have done without the scene near the end with Sister Hildegard, but it did express the horrendous toll such a life can take re repression. Not all women in convents were there because they wanted to be.
As a child I was taken to (an Anglican) church every Sunday. Just as the service was about to begin, the back pews were filled with mostly short, dumpy women who seemed solemn and elderly to me though they probably weren't. They were accompanied by nuns. My mother explained they all lived in the convent and did laundry work as they were "simple". Now I dread to think how they might have been treated.