Rose had been a single mother before she was made a single mother.
-- Narrator (Part 1, Chapter 1)

Importance: When Rose marries Albert, it takes them four years to conceive Miriam. With her husband so devoted to the Communist Party, Rose must essentially raise Miriam on her own while Albert is unfaithful to her. As such, she is very much like a single mother –something she is already used to by the time Albert leaves for East Germany to work as a spy.

For don’t kid yourself, Rose was all about power. The power of resentment, of guilt, of unwritten injunctions against everything, against life itself. Rose was into death, Sergius!
-- Cicero (Part 1, Chapter 3)

Importance: Sergius comes to see Cicero for more information about his mother, Rose, and Sunnyside Gardens. Cicero reveals the Communist world of Rose is a world that he fled in haste, having hated it and hated Rose. Cicero explains that everyone hated Rose because Rose...