Okay, here is the full reply from Christine Woodside (a request from me for public comment). It raises a few biographical points where I read the evidence differently.

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Hi Jonathan,

I've thought a lot about it, talked a lot about it with editors, agonized over how to write about the same questions I asked myself that you're now asking yourself. How to handle the ambiguity over Rose's sexuality. One thing that scholars seem to emphasize about that era is that women's friendships and lesbian relationships were often very blurred.

I think I came around to believe that Rose was probably in love with Helen Boylston. Whether they had any actual romantic relationship, again, no evidence. Troub (as she was known, something you probably realize if you're reading my book!) lived with Rose for several years, both in Albania and on Rocky Ridge Farm in Missouri. And when Troub left, Rose had a mental breakdown.

But Rose had a clearly romantic and physical relationship with Guy Moyston, who wanted to marry her. And probably had an affair or some sort with the writer Garret Garet. I think it's important that modern writers looking back be careful not to define Rose when she was ambiguous. She may have been bisexual or she may not have. She never never once wrote about a romantic relationship with Troub in her journal. And by the time Troub left, Rose was feeling betrayed by her in other ways. She was in debt to her, for one thing.