Claire Daniel's fresh voice brings a journey of the heart and mind to her characters as they explore the beauty and the more frightening aspects of the Italian countryside.
Fresh out of divorce court, Elizabeth Strickland is desperate for change. She travels to Italy to rekindle a relationship with an Italian she left twenty years ago, but some urge leads her to settle in a remote part of Umbria. Before long, she has a conflict with the Russian Mafia and meets an American journalist who challenges the way she has approached relationships in the past.
How autobiographical is Off the Autostrada?
Everything a writer writes is somewhat autobiographical, and I used many of my life situations to create obstacles for Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth is quite fictional. I created the character when I was writing a column for the Bolton Common. There, Elizabeth’s name was Flossie Quattlebaum, and many of her experiences were based quite loosely on what was going on in my life. Both Elizabeth and Flossie are much more outrageous and daring than I am. They have a lot more fun and a lot more heartache. In contrast to their lives, mine is really quite boring.
Is the setting a real place in Italy?
I like to think of the locales in the book as separate characters in their own right. Santa Caterina is not a real place, but I have based some of its descriptions on Castelli that I have visited. Hooker Highway is also very real. There are many of these highways in the back roads of Italy where prostitutes work.
Are the characters real?
No. All of the characters are imaginary. I have used many parts of many people I know to create the personalities of the characters who are in the novel.
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