The Bridges of Madison County » (Unabridged)

The Bridges of Madison County is the story of Robert Kincaid, a world class photographer and Francesca Johnson, an Iowa farm wife. Given to nomadic ways, Kincaid is a strange, almost mystical traveler, a man who feels displaced and out of harmony with his time. Francesca Johnson, once a young war bride from Italy, lives with the flickering memories of her girlhood dreams. Waller's novel comes alive via his performance, in this dramatization of the story of two people whose lives are forever altered by their meeting.

Publishers Weekly

Quietly powerful and thoroughly credible, Waller's first novel (he previously wrote two books of essays) describes the profound love between a photographer and an Iowa farmer's wife who, together for only four days, never lose their feelings for each other. In August 1965, 52-year-old divorce Robert Kincaid packs his pickup truck and travels to Iowa's Madison County, the location of seven covered bridges he is to photograph for National Geographic . There, he asks directions of Francesca Johnson, alone at home while her husband and two children visit the Illinois State Fair. Initially, neither Robert nor Francesca expects their random encounter to lead to seduction, yet their mutual desire is undeniable. Waller tells their story as though it were nonfiction, claiming to have heard about Francesca from her children after her death, read her journals, seen Robert's relics of those four days and interviewed a jazz musician who knew the photographer. Scenes between the lovers are movingly evoked and moments with Francesca, who celebrates her birthday 22 years later by reflecting on her brief time with Robert, are particularly poignant. An erotic, bittersweet tale of lingering memories and forsaken possibilities.