A Thousand Country Roads - Hardcover

Robert James Waller

3.49

2,282 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316724378 ISBN 13: 9780316724371

Publisher: Time Warner Books, 2002

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Sixteen years after Robert Kincaid and Francesca Johnson have agreed that their swift, passionate and deep love affair must end, they are still thinking of each other. Robert has never married, but continued his nomadic life as a photographer. He feels it is time to re-visit Roseman Bridge just to lay to rest his lingering love - not to SEE her as he doesn't wish to disturb the life she chose when she decided to stay with her husband and children. Francesca's husband has recently died and the children long left home. She takes her daily walk to Roseman and sees the back of a Landrover leaving - her heart stops for a second as she FEELS it was Robert. But he's gone. Meanwhile, teenager Carlisle feels it is time he looked for his biological father. His mother has never made a secret of the fact he was the result of a one-night stand. From the few details he has he tracks down Robert and introduces himself. Startled, but quite happy to have been a father, they have a few days to get to know each other - before Robert dies of a heart attack. Francesca receives a letter informing her of his death.

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From the Author:

Stories sometimes must wait their turn lest they clutter other things having first call. Over the years, letters arrived from the readers of The Bridges of Madison County, from men and women, teenagers, truck drivers, housewives, lawyers, pilots, and oil-rig workers.

A fair percentage of those who wrote wanted to know more about Robert Kincaid and Francesca Johnson, about their lives, what happened to them after their four days together in Madison County, Iowa. Living a quiet, contented existence on a remote, high-desert ranch, having returned to my studies of economics and mathematics and jazz guitar, I felt no need to dig out the research notes, no push to write more. Yet, somewhere, at some time, for reasons not clear, after reading one more letter requesting information, I decided to tell the rest of the story.

And I wonder always about the improbabilities, the nature of chance. The Bridges of Madison County, a small story set in a small time, a book originally written as a gift for family and friends, a book I never had any hope of getting published nor intentions of doing so when I wrote it, is in thirty-five or more languages now.

So, for those of you who asked and for anyone else with such curiosity, here is the rest of the story...I think you will find, among other things, surprise at the unexpected joy Robert Kincaid discovered late in life.

About the Author:

Robert James Waller lives on a remote ranch in the high desert mountains of Texas and pursues his interest in writing, photography, music, economics and mathematics. In his earlier days, he was a university professor.

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