The Bridges of Madison County (1992) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Francesca Johnson: Female main Character. A Madison County farm wife with Italian roots who fell in love with a stranger asking for directions.
• Robert Kincaid: Male main Character. Aging photographer who landed in Madison County to photograph covered bridges and fell in love with a married woman.
• Richard Johnson: Husband of Francesca.
• Jack: Francesca's Dog
• Michael Johnson: Son of Francesca and Richard.
• Carolyn Johnson: daughter of Francesca and Richard.
• Harry: Robert Kincaid's truck.
• Francesca: a war bride

Quotes edit see section history

• “This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime.”

  Robert Kincaid

• “"The old dreams were good dreams; they didn't work out but I'm glad I had them."”

  Robert Kincaid

• “I don’t like feeling sorry for myself. That’s not who I am. And most of the time, I don’t feel that way. Instead, I am grateful for having at least found you. We could have flashed by one another like two pieces of cosmic dust.”

• “She always had thought fashion and all it implied pretty wierd, people behaving sheeplike in the service of European designers.”

• “Rules and regulations and laws and social conventions. Hierarchies of authority, spans of control, long range plans, and budgets. corporate power; in "bud" we trust. A world of wrinkled suits and stick-on name tags.”

  Robert Kincaid

• “Analysis destroys wholes. Some things, magic things, are meant to stay whole. If you look at their pieces, they go away.”

  Robert Kincaid

• “I have one thing to say, one thing only, I’ll never say it another time, to anyone, and I ask you to remember it: In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live.”

  Robert Kincaid

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live.”

  Highlighted by 68 Kindle customers

• “Analysis destroys wholes. Some things, magic things, are meant to stay whole. If you look at their pieces, they go away.”

  Highlighted by 39 Kindle customers

• ‘The old dreams were good dreams; they didn’t work out, but I’m glad I had them.’

  Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers

• “This is why I’m here on this planet, at this time, Francesca. Not to travel or make pictures, but to love you. I know that now. I have been falling from the rim of a great, high place, somewhere back in time, for many more years than I have lived in this life. And through all of those years, I have been falling toward you.”

  Highlighted by 30 Kindle customers

• In four days, he gave me a lifetime, a universe, and made the separate parts of me into a whole. I have never stopped thinking of him, not for a moment. Even when he was not in my conscious mind, I could feel him somewhere, always he was there.

  Highlighted by 25 Kindle customers

• She had become a woman again. There was room to dance again. In a slow, unremitting way, she was turning for home, toward a place she’d never been.

  Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers

• It’s clear to me now that I have been moving toward you and you toward me for a long time. Though neither of us was aware of the other before we met, there was a kind of mindless certainty humming blithely along beneath our ignorance that ensured we would come together. Like two solitary birds flying the great prairies by celestial reckoning, all of these years and lifetimes we have been moving toward one another.

  Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers

• “In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live.”

  Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers

• We have both lost ourselves and created something else, something that exists only as an interlacing of the two of us. Christ, we’re in love. As deeply, as profoundly, as it’s possible to be in love.

  Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers

• “Robert, there’s a creature inside of you that I’m not good enough to bring out, not strong enough to reach. I sometimes have the feeling you’ve been here a long time, more than one lifetime, and that you’ve dwelt in private places none of the rest of us has even dreamed about. You frighten me, even though you’re gentle with me. If I didn’t fight to control myself with you, I feel like I might lose my center and never get back.”

  Highlighted by 12 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Iowa
• Bridges Of Madison County
• Winterset
• Roseman Bridge
• Bellingham
• Washington
• Seattle
• Cedar Bridge
• India
• Naples
• Italy
• Des Moines

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Robert James Waller (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Giorgetta McRee (Designer)
2. Mitch Greenberg (Narrator) - English Audio
3. Muramatsu Kiyoshi (Translator) - for Japanese

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3573.A4347 B75
• Dewey: 813/.54 20

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary

Movie Connections edit see section history

• The Bridges of Madison County (IMDb): Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson, for four days in the 1960s.Director:Clint EastwoodWriters:Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Robert James Waller (novel)Stars:Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep and Annie CorleyRelease Date:2 June 1995 (USA)

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history