Heart in the Right Place: A Memoir

Written by Carolyn Jourdan

Narrated by Kate Forbes

Carolyn Jourdan spent many years as a congressional lawyer in Washington, D.C. Then she was called home to fill in for her mother as receptionist at her father's rural Tennessee doctor's office-assured it would only be for a few days. "Jourdan's dispatches from the reception desk make for a stirring, beautiful memoir that is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, and ultimately a triumph."-Publishers Weekly, starred review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 4, 2008
• ISBN: 9781436116886

Reviews for Heart in the Right Place

[nwieme-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved it! Such a great story - more like a series of little stories that all combine to teach a couple of important lessons... to quote Carolyn: PAY ATTENTION - it may seem like the ONLY thing we can do for one another ... but it might even be the BEST thing we could ever do for anybody! And as Henry had said - :A lot of the most important things don't look like much"

So many great thoughts came out of this book!

[cbl_tn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Carolyn Jourdan was climbing the ladder as an attorney for a US Senate committee when a call from home changes everything. Her mother had a heart attack, and she needed Carolyn to fill in for her for a few days as the receptionist/office manager of Carolyn's father's medical practice. A few days turned into a few weeks, then a few months, until Carolyn had to make a decision about her future.Carolyn's father, Dr. Jourdan, was one of a rapidly disappearing breed of rural family medicine practitioners who owned their own practice, made hospital calls, etc. Her father didn't schedule appointments. His patients showed up at his office when they had a medical problem, and they sat in the waiting room until it was their turn. Dr. Jourdan sounded very much like my old family doctor, who ran a similar practice almost within spitting distance. They probably knew each other from local medical association meetings.I knew this book was special from the first chapter, when the author described her first day of temping for her mother. The first patients that day were three ladies in their 90s. Carolyn thought it would be easier for them if she let them wait in one of the exam rooms instead of the waiting room, so she left them alone in a room with a hydraulic table. It seemed like a good idea at the time...This book is perfect for readers who like James Herriot's veterinary stories or Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Doctor books. It might also be a good companion read for J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy.

[creighley_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Carolyn Jourdan is a Capitol Hill lawyer when she learns that her mother has had a heart attack. She rushes home and ends up in the mountains of Tennessee where her father is a country doctor. Struggling with staying where she is needed and making a direct difference in these people's lives and the life she led in Washington, she has to decide just how she wants to live her life. There are a few moments when her tale reminds me of the James Herriot novels only he, of course, was a vet.

[judiex · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Carolyn Jourdan, forty two years old, was a U.S. Senate counsel, earning six figures a year, driving a Mercedes Benz, living an exciting, affluent life in Washington DC when she received a telephone call that her mother had possibly had heart attack and she was needed at home in rural Tennessee to help manage her father’s medical practice. The job was supposed to last for less than a week. However, her seventy-two-year-old mother didn’t recuperate as quickly as she had anticipated and her seventy-two-year-old father had no one else who could perform the many duties necessary to run the office: complete the claim forms for insurance payments, greet the patients and answer the phones, order supplies, etc. The days expanded into weeks, then into months, then a year. During that time, she kept in touch with her DC job, planning to go back as soon as possible. HEART IN THE RIGHT PLACE is a welll-written memoir of that year. She writes about her experiences going to see patients with her father as she was growing up. Living in a small, rural community, everyone knew everyone else. Her father was the only doctor around and treated many people who, in a city, would have gone to a specialist instead. (He does refer some patients to specialist after his initial consultation.) His patients (they are never treated as diseases or cases) suffer from a wide variety of illnesses and accidents. Many of them cannot afford to pay for their treatments. All are treated with compassion and respect.While the patients’ medical situations provide the background for most of the book (the most explicit is Chapter 24 where she witnesses and describes a heart bypass operation. Read about what happens when someone smokes before surgery.), she makes the reader experience the lives of the community from her perspective with warmth, love, and humor. Her father’s best friend, Fletcher teaches her what it’s like when a doctor can’t save a patient from: “The pitiful truth is that sometimes the best thing, the only thing, we can do for another person is just show up....And that takes guts.” Among her areas of concentration in DC was nuclear science. When the US government was looking for a place for a nuclear warhead dump, the only place that wanted it was near her home. The single industry in town, a maximum security prison, had closed and the residents saw the dump as a source of revenue and jobs. When people for and against the dump sites from all over the country came to testify before Congress, the dressed in new clothes and brought their families to watch. Sadly, the media wasn’t interested and since there were no cameras present, the senators didn’t stay around either. She ended up running the meeting, giving the people the respect she thought they deserved. As well as showing what makes a politician respond, the chapter has a wonderful explanation of the etymology of the word “testimony” and why women couldn’t testify in court or have legal rights.Carolyn wrestles about whether she should go back to the high life in DC or stay in Tennessee; what are the advantages and disadvantages of each way of life. Where will she find fulfillment. The woman at the end of the book is not the same person as the one at the beginning.

[bluesgal79 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this fun and profound memoir over the course of a weekend in the mountains back in 2008, and it remains one of the fondest reading memories I've ever had. Carolyn Jourdan was compelled to return home to her native Tennessee from her high-powered Washington, D.C. career when her mother fell ill. Her father, the sort of rural doctor "they" don't make anymore, needed her help running his practice. Thinking she'd only be there a few weeks, Jourdan soon began to discover the deep integrity there is in a good day's work in the service of just plain folk. "Heart in the Right Place" is funny, moving, and profound without being treacly.

[knitwit2_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story about a very successful Washington lawyer who returns home to TN to help in her father's rural medical practice, after her mother becomes ill. The author finds the right balance between very serious events and the very funny things that happen - sometimes they are one in the same and she tells it with finess. Ms. Jourdan shares the stories of her father's patients in the most caring way all the while telling the reader what she is learning about herself. The only part of her story that I would have liked to have known was whether her relationship with Matthew ever became romantic.

[mckait · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I hardly know where to begin. This is a beautiful story of a loving family and a very special community. It is a story of a woman who finds her truest self. Carolyn Jourdan was a high profile attorney who worked on Capitol Hill. She drove a Mercedes, and had a high profile circle of friends. She knew all of the important people, and they knew her. A family emergency sent her back to the hills of Tennessee, for a few days. It wasn't easy. She missed her place in DC from almost the first moment she was away. Her best friend was there. Her life and work were there. She was somebody there...or was she.As the days and then weeks passed, far longer than she had expected or planned, Carolyn began to see things just a little differently. She had always wanted to help others, but had seen it more as a grand scheme. Helping many at one time. Making a difference . But is is more important to make a difference to many people at one time than it is to do so one by one. That was a conundrum she had trouble solving. I loved each and every one of the people I met in this book. There were tears in my eyes more than once. A story filled with compassion, love and faith that will have a firm place on my small self of books that are to be read again and again.

[lildrafire · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Carolyn Jourdan's amusing but poignant spiritual journey into what is really most important in life does not disappoint. Jourdan comes back home to rural Tennessee from her prestigious job in Washington, DC to help her father, a doctor, while her mother, his receptionist, recuperates from an illness. Her descriptions of the parade of eccentric but lovable characters through her father's small country medical practice leave the reader completely absorbed into the story and wanting more. By the end of the story a realization sets in--success is not measured by fame, money, or location of residence--but by the small, although significant, differences for the better we make in other's lives.

[mrsrj-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Heart In The Right Place reaches out and touches the core of the reader. An emotional journey that inspires you to evaluate what is truly important in life and your place in it.The story opens as Carolyn, the accomplished, independently successful attorney receives a phone call from her father…her mother is being treated for an apparent heart attack in the local emergency room. She immediately packed a quick bag, jumped into her expensive Mercedes and traveled the 500 miles from D.C. to her family’s hometown in East Tennessee. Her father was a wonderful family doctor and her mom had worked by his side, officially as the receptionist, but more a Jill-of-all-trades, for as far back as she could remember. Now, Carolyn would have to fill-in for her Mom for a “few days.” Thinking she would be back in D.C. before Monday morning, Carolyn resigned herself to a couple of days of answering phones and whatever else, and then she would get back to the real world where she could make a difference. However, a few days turn to a few weeks and that quickly fades into a few months and the question that plagues the reader, was obviously wreaking havoc on Carolyn’s mind as well–will she return to D.C. or stay in East Tennessee?At first she was completely out of her element, feeling inadequate and ineffective. She had always believed that by being an attorney she could make a difference, on the national level, which in turn would help large numbers of people. Now, after months of being immersed in this simple, country community, interacting with the patients on a personal level, she began to see her parents selfless devotion to these people in a new light.Far from the hustle and bustle of high powered politicians and law makers, is where you find the folks who are making a difference, every day…changing the world with one selfless act of kindness at a time. Carolyn Jourdan’s memoir is an honest look into the heart of a young woman that discovers she is and has always been, her parents daughter. Chock-full of sweet southern charm, quaint characters that will have you laughing out loud one minute and reaching for a tissue the next, this is a wonderful story. Delightful, insightful and inspirational, Heart In The Right Place is a beautifully written novel that challenges us to rethink our goals, values and perceptions. Life is unpredictable and it’s human nature to search for your purpose and to want to make a difference, which is very personal and quite difficult. And yet, Carolyn Jourdan shares her intimate journey through the tough questions, self-doubt and ultimately the choice to make sweeping changes in her life. A world away from the high-powered, black-tie gatherings where wheeling and dealing is the name of the game, she found her calling in a country doctor’s small office.Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind memoir, Jourdan’s words will stay with you long after the book has been snugly tucked away on the shelf.