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Episode 3

By Jonathan Lethem. Single mother Rose and her daughter Miriam have an incendiary row which changes the course of both their lives. Read by Laurel Lefkow.

By Jonathan Lethem

A Twentieth Century American epic by prize-winning novelist Jonathan Lethem, applying his sharp, funny and perfectly crafted prose to an alternative history of America which puts a woman at its heart - a Jewish, Communist woman, a single mother, a second generation immigrant deeply involved in the civil rights movement.

In 1955 Rose Zimmer is kicked out of the American Communist party for her affair with a black policeman. Her ire and her radicalism, her incendiary disappointment in the Twentieth Century, prove inescapable for the generations that come after her - her idealistic hippy daughter Miriam, black stepson Cicero and her lost grandson Sergius.

Episode 3: Miriam sneaks a boy home and ignites a life changing row. Single mother Rose and teenage Miriam are caught in a dramatically escalating argument with consequences that spool out into both of their lives.

Read by Laurel Lefkow
Abridged by Elizabeth Reeder
Produced by Allegra McIlroy.

15 minutes

Last on

Wed 22 Jan 2014 22:45

Credits

Role Contributor
Reader Laurel Lefkow
Producer Allegra McIlroy
Abridger Elizabeth Reeder
Author Jonathan Lethem

Broadcast

  • Wed 22 Jan 2014 22:45

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