It’s over the covered bridge to Madison County, Iowa, the setting for Robert James Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County and its (spoiler) exponentially better film adaptation. We cover (ha) tie-in fragrances, Waller’s, um, musical career, and the one and only Painter of Light™, all while paying respects to Our Lady of the Pod, Meryl.

Resources: Waller interview, background on BoMC, Meryl interview, Anthony Lane on the book, Frank Rich on the book, the La-Z-Boy from...heaven(?), Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage.

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