When Robert Kincaid drives through the heat and dust of an Iowa summer and turns into Francesca Johnson's farm lane looking for directions, the world-class photographer and the Iowa farm wife are joined in an experience of uncommon truth and stunning beauty that will haunt them forever. The romantic classic of the 1990's.


From 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. Photos of covered bridges serve as illustrations. 35,000 first printing. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
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.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
The chance meeting of a famous photographer and an Iowa farm wife changes their lives and becomes a study of commitment for all of us. The tone is set with a tuneful folksong. The author reads simply with a repetitive speech pattern which is not unpleasant. The feeling of heat and a country summer and the covered bridges of Iowa are present in his reading. There are no jarring tape tape turning instructions and the new side begins without fanfare and better--no break in mood. J.C.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Here's a Hallmark card for all those who have loved and lost: a mushy memorial to a brief encounter in the Midwest. One enchanted afternoon, across her Iowa farmyard, Francesca Johnson sees a stranger: ``his eyes looked directly at her, and she felt something jump inside.'' He reminds her of a gazelle, make that a leopard or, better yet, ``some star creature who had drafted in on the tail of a comet,'' for obviously he's come ``a long way, across more than miles.'' In fact, 52-year-old National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid has driven from Washington State to shoot the covered bridges of Madison County; what wonderful luck for these soon-to-be-lovers, this hot August of 1965, that 45-year- old Francesca's husband Richard, along with their two children, is at a state fair for a week. The Italian Francesca, who married Richard 20 years before in Naples but now feels ``compromised and alone,'' asks the equally lonely, equally sensitive Robert to dinner. That's Day One; on Day Two, they fall in love; and when they make whoopee, it's as much spiritual as physical, what with Robert whispering, ``I am the highway and a peregrine and all the sails that ever went to sea.'' On Day Four, their last together, Francesca announces she must stay with her family, but their bond is forever: As Robert says, ``in a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once.'' Looking back years later, Francesca concludes that undying, romantic, extramarital love is compatible with family values. That conclusion should sit well with the target audience; for as fake and pretentious as it is, this first novel is based on hard-nosed commercial calculations. The publisher, promising a big push, clearly expects its silly goose to lay a golden egg, and, who knows, maybe it will. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

ANNOTATION

A timeless, universally appealing story of love and loss. In just four days, two people find one another and commit themselves to each other for a lifetime even though they remain apart. Optioned by a major motion picture company for a feature film.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The legendary love story, the bestselling hardcover novel of all time, and the major motion picture starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. This is 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 fulfillment of a girlhood dream. It shows readers what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same again.

SYNOPSIS

One warm 1960s summer day Robert Kincaid walks into the quaint Iowa town of Winterset to photograph its beautiful old bridges for a photo essay for National Geographic. Asking directions at a local farmhouse, he meets Francesca, a beautiful farm wife whose family is away at the state fair. They fall deeply and immediately in love. For four days, they revel in one another's beauty and the magic that they bring to each other. When it comes time for him to leave, Robert wants her to go with him, but she makes the painful decision to stay with her family. After Robertos;s gone, Francesca keeps track of him through his pictures in National Geographic. She notices the careworn lines of his well-traveled face, the medallion around his neck that bears her name. After he dies, his ashes are scattered near the bridge they photographed together, and she receives a box of his personal effects. When she dies, she leaves them to her children, along with three volumes of writing which contain her story of their love. True love shines in this spare, simple story. Not literary so much as classic, the love story of Robert and Francesca is as universal and eternal as Romeo and Juliet.

FROM THE CRITICS

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.

Library Journal - Bettie Spivey Cormier, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library, Charlotte, N.C.

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.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Eloquent, emotional, and touches the heart....I couldn't put it down. — Barbara Taylor Bradford