S5 Lovefest EP210: Jacque Gorelick, Teacher, Essayist, and Debut Author of Map of a Heart

February 18
40 mins

Episode Description

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Hello My Happy People,

This episode continues our Lovefest celebration, and this time we’re exploring a different kind of love. Not the spark of romance, but the fierce, protective love that shows up in moments of crisis.

In this episode of Book Banter with Dianne Burckhardt, I sit down with Jacque Gorelick to talk about her forthcoming memoir, Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home.

After losing her mother at eight and spending her childhood searching for belonging, Jacque believed she had finally found stability in marriage and motherhood. Then an ordinary day ended in a frantic 911 call when her husband collapsed from cardiac arrest. What followed was a terrifying stretch in an ICU waiting room as she advocated for his life while caring for her newborn and navigating complicated family dynamics.

In our conversation, we talk about balancing a medical crisis while managing motherhood, extended family, and the unexpected support that came from people in her life. We also discuss what it means to write through trauma and how putting lived experience on the page can come with its own emotional reckoning.

If Lovefest is about honoring all forms of love, this episode is a powerful reminder that love is not just romantic. It is steadfast, sustaining, and sometimes revealed most clearly in the hardest moments.

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