Heart in the Right Place: Summary and book reviews of Heart in the Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan, plus links to an excerpt from Heart in the Right Place and a biography of Carolyn Jourdan.
Heart in the Right Place A Memoir
by Carolyn Jourdan
Hardcover: May 2007,
304 pages.
Paperback: Aug 2008,
304 pages.
Carolyn Jourdan had it all: the Mercedes Benz,
the fancy soirees, the best clothes. She moved in the most exclusive circles in
Washington, D.C., rubbed elbows with big politicians, and worked on Capitol
Hill. As far as she was concerned, she was changing the world.
And then her mother had a heart attack. Carolyn came home to help her father
with his rural medical practice in the Tennessee mountains. She'd fill in for a
few days as the receptionist until her mother could return to work. Or so she
thought. But days turned into weeks.
Her job now included following hazmat regulations for cleaning up bodily
fluids; maintaining composure when confronted with a splinter the size of a
steak knife; distinguishing between a "pain," a "strain," and a "sprain" on
indecipherable Medicare forms; and tending to the loquacious Miss Hiawatha,
whose daily doctor visits were never billed.
Eventually, Jourdan gave up her Mercedes and made do with a twenty-year-old
postal jeep. She shed her suits for scrubs. And the funny thing was, she liked
her new life. As she watched her father work tirelessly and uncomplainingly, she
saw what making a difference really meant: being on call all hours of the day
and night, tolerating the local drug addict's frequent phone calls, truly
listening to Miss Hiawatha. It meant just showing up, every day, and taking care
of every person in Strawberry Plains and beyond, whether he got paid to do it or
not. And for his daughter, it meant learning that her real place to change the
world was right here—in her hometown—by her father's side.
The observant wit and wisdom of James Herriot lives on in Carolyn Jourdan's tales of life among the people of rural Tennessee - people as eccentric, tough, stubborn and stoical as the Yorkshire farmers of Herriot's time. (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Book Page - Howard Shirley
[A]n absolute delight of a book: warm, funny and written with great heart and understanding.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer - John Marshall
This is a soul-touching memoir filled with memorable Southern characters, plus plenty of country humor, but mostly a memoir about character -- the transformative power of selfless acts in forgotten places far from the spotlight.
Kathy Patrick - THE Pulpwood Queen, SouthernLiving.com
This book proves that yes, you can go home again and that quality of life is much better than quantity in life! Five Diamonds in the Tiara.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
This is a soul-touching memoir filled with memorable Southern characters, plus plenty of country humor, but mostly a memoir about character -- the transformative power of selfless acts in forgotten places far from the spotlight.
Booklist - Carol Haggas
With lavish affection, genuine respect, and exuberant humor, Jourdan offers a zestfully compassionate portrait of a poor community rich in the ways of true humanity.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. [A] stirring, beautiful memoir that is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, and ultimately a triumph.
Fannie Flagg
Heartwarming, funny, and utterly appealing.
Kate Whouley, author of Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved
Carolyn Jourdan's compelling memoir is by turns hilarious, sobering, and wise.
Dolly Parton
This is a wonderful book. I would have enjoyed it even if Carolyn wasn't a neighbor of mine in East Tennessee. She is a great writer.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Louise J A Most Delicious Memoir!! This was a beautiful, serene, relaxing memoir and I absolutely adored this story! The characters are real and endearing, each of them carving out a special place in your heart. And what a gorgeous name of this town “Strawberry Plains”, how... Read More
Rated of 5
by S. E. Shorbe Heart in the Right Place Being from East Tennessee and having worked in a physicians office I really enjoyed Ms. Jourdan's book. It describes the heart of the people and location right on the mark. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and read it almost all the way through... Read More
Rated of 5
by deb y
When I read the first chapter of this book on DearReader.Com, I thought it might be a chick lit book I would enjoy - I think I am too old for most of them :) However, to my surprise and definite enjoyment, when I got it from my library, it was a... Read More
Carolyn Jourdan is a former U.S.
Senate Counsel to the Committee
on Environment and Public Works
and the Committee on
Governmental Affairs (now
Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs). She has
degrees from the University of
Tennessee in Biomedical
Engineering and Law. She lives
on the family farm in East Knox
County, Tennessee, and has seven
stray animals (four dogs and
three cats). Heart In The
Right Place takes place over
the course of a year in the
early 1990s when her life
changed dramatically when her
mother, Elise Jourdan, had a
heart attack and had to be
hospitalized, and Carolyn
returned to East Tennessee to
help her father, Dr Paul
Jourdan, in his Strawberry
Plains medical practice.
This witty and lovingly told memoir takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period--people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All Over but the Shoutin’ continues his personal history of the Deep South with an evocation of his mother’s childhood in the Appalachian foothills during the Great Depression, and the magnificent story of the man who raised her.
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