Goodreads asked Claire Wingfield:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Claire Wingfield My first job after university in the UK was at a publishing house in Berlin. Whilst I wasn’t enamoured with my first office job, the city and the people I met there had a profound impact on me. At 21, I drank in every new experience and it wasn’t long before I dreamed in the new language! I was earnest in learning everything I could about this new country – a more diligent sightseer than I had ever been before or have ever been since. I would tramp to the furthest reaches of the city following a guidebook tip, eat in restaurants alone – and find even the most mundane experience fascinating. I also met some wonderful people – some of whom have inspired one or two of the characters in this book.

It’s now almost 20 years later and this book captures that incredibly special time in my life. I distinctly remember the pull between staying past the end of my contract and putting down roots there or returning to the UK. I have always wondered what would have happened if I’d stayed in Germany, so I suppose that was my starting point for Saving Francesca Maier – although many things have changed.

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