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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
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| 33607002616111 | Adult Fiction | WALLER | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
Fall in love with one of the bestselling novels of all time -- the legendary love story that became a beloved film starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.
If you've ever experienced the one true love of your life, a love that for some reason could never be, you will understand why readers all over the world are so moved by this small, unknown first novel that they became a publishing phenomenon and #1 bestseller. The story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free spirit searching for the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for the fulfillment of a girlhood dream, The Bridges of Madison County gives voice to the longings of men and women everywhere -- and shows us what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same again.
Author Notes
Robert James Waller was born in Charles City, Iowa on August 1, 1939. He received a bachelor's degree in business education in 1962 and a master's degree in education in 1964 from the State College of Iowa and a doctorate of business administration in finance in 1968 from Indiana University's school of business. He taught management and economics starting in 1967 at the University of Northern Iowa and was appointed dean of its business school in 1980.
While teaching, he began writing travel and nature essays for The Des Moines Register's Sunday edition. These were collected in Just Beyond the Firelight: Stories and Essays and One Good Road Is Enough. He took an unpaid leave of absence from teaching in 1990 and obtained a $200,000 grant from the state to study the future of the region. His report, Iowa: Perspectives on Today and Tomorrow, was published in 1991.
His first novel, The Bridges of Madison County, was published in 1992. It was adapted into a film in 1995 starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood and as a Broadway musical in 2014. His other novels included Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend, Puerto Vallarta Squeeze: The Run for el Norte, Border Music, A Thousand Country Roads: An Epilogue to The Bridges of Madison County, High Plains Tango, and The Long Night of Winchell Dear. He also recorded an album entitled The Ballads of Madison County. He died from multiple myeloma on March 10, 2017 at the age of 77.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
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. Photos of covered bridges serve as illustrations. 35,000 first printing. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
This is the story of four days that change forever the lives of two lonely people. Robert Kincaid is a roving photographer for National Geographic and Francesca Johnson is a housewife whose marriage suffers from a lack of romance. Francesca's family is out of town when Kincaid arrives on the scene, and the pair are instantly attracted. They soon become lovers, and Kincaid asks Francesca to run away with him, but she refuses. Francesca stays loyal to her family, and memories of Kincaid are all that remain. Contrived, unrealistic dialog detracts from a well-plotted, quick, and pleasant read. For larger popular fiction collections. Bettie Spivey Cormier, Charlotte-Mecklenburg P.L., Charlotte, N.C.(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.