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Heart in the Right Place: A Memoir
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Heart in the Right Place: A Memoir
Author: Carolyn Jourdan

Book Information
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 32
Rating:
9

ISBN-13: 9781565124875 - ISBN-10: 1565124871
Publication Date: 5/24/2007
Pages: 304

Book Description:
Carolyn Jourdan left her beloved Tennessee hometown for a career in Washington, D.C. For twenty years she worked with the country's most powerful people. A successful attorney, she was smart and ambitious, and she believed her work made a difference.

So when her father asked her to come home and be the receptionist at his tiny rural doctor's office while her mother recovered from a heart attack, Carolyn reluctantly agreed, thinking she could handle it—for a day or two. 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 Medicaid forms; and tending to the loquacious Miss Hiawatha, whose daily doctor visits were never billed.

Slowly her fast-track Washington world began to pale in comparison with her new life. And her father proved more heroic and devoted than any politician she'd ever met. He made a difference every day, treating each patient, no matter how crazy or ornery or obnoxious, with dignity. And so, now, did Carolyn. Told with tremendous heart, this is the story of how, sometimes, you can—and should—go home again.

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Top Member Book Reviews

T. reviewed 5/14/2007...
7 member(s) found this review helpful.

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.


Debbie V. (DebbieinMaine) reviewed 7/30/2008...
+ read 38 more book reviews by this member

2 member(s) found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful story about smalltown life. There are many funny medical "binds" that folks get themselves into, very entertaining. A homecoming story that rings true without all the "pat answers" found in fiction books. Nice memoir.



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