The Bridges of Madison County

The Bridges of Madison County – Robert James Waller

In the summer of 1965, Robert Kincaid, a world-traveling photographer on assignment for National Geographic, drives into Madison County, Iowa, to photograph its covered bridges. Lost on a dusty back road, he stops at a farmhouse to ask for directions.

Francesca Johnson, an Italian-born war bride, is alone at home that week while her husband and children are away at the state fair. She has made a quiet, dutiful life on the farm, but a part of her, the young woman who once dreamed of art and romance in Naples, has long gone unexpressed. When she offers to show Robert the way to Roseman Bridge, neither of them can foresee the four days that follow, days that will change them both forever and that each will carry for the rest of their lives.

Told with tenderness and restraint, and framed by the discovery of Francesca’s letters and journals by her grown children years after her death, The Bridges of Madison County is a meditation on love, longing, loyalty and the choices that define a life.

Robert James Waller writes in spare, lyrical prose that captures the heat of an Iowa summer, the beauty of ordinary moments and the ache of a love that cannot be fully lived.

A worldwide phenomenon that topped bestseller lists and inspired the acclaimed film starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, The Bridges of Madison County remains one of the most beloved love stories of our time and a perfect gift for romantic readers.