Blog Q&A with Jessica Dee Rohm

Here are the questions I had for Jessica Dee Rohm author of Sugar Tower:

1. Anabel and Marchesa both have problems with self-esteem. They both deal with it in different ways. Anabel with drugs and Marchesa looks for flaws in her relationships with her father. Was it important to show such a big contrast? How different people deal with different problems?


I don't think either has low self-esteem. I think each has chosen a different path. Anabel wants to use her beauty and youth to marry a rich husband. In this she succeeds but sells a bit of her soul in the process. Not a happy woman when she dies. Marchesa wants to be independent. She doesn't want to be under a man's thumb as her mother was. She has a love/hate relationship with her father, which may be at the root of her fierce independence, but she resolves it and forgives him in the end. I did intend to illustrate how two women - all women - choose to be taken care of or to take care of themselves. Both have pros and cons but I'm on the side of Marchesa!

2. There's a part in the book about Sugar Tower being it's own universe or it's own economy? Do you think that's how some of the ritzy buildings in Manhattan really are?

YES! Think about it. They are like micro-economies, with their own elected leadership, rules, budgets, problems. Eventually neighbors meet, develop prejudices, preferences, pet peeves. Some fall in love. Some sue each other. Some die. Babies are born, etc.

3. There is a Bernie Madoff-type character in the book. Did part of the idea for your book come from the Madoff fallout?

YES!
4. Mil said Purchase, NY is the richest zip code in America. Is that really true?
YES! These things change from time to time but it is certainly one of the richest.
5. I ask everyone this one. In three words how would you describe your book?

Gripping, insightful, timely.