From Copenhagen to Connecticut: Gabi Coatsworth's Epic Love Story

Gabi Coatsworth has been trying to figure out how America works—all while holding onto her British accent, her love of proper tea, and the belief that love never truly dies. In this heartfelt February conversation, the award-winning British-born author shares the story behind her memoir Love's Journey Home, a moving account of falling in love with her husband Jay at first sight in Copenhagen, walking away because he was married, reconnecting five years later, and ultimately returning to care for him when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer—only to fall in love with him all over again.

Gabi reveals why memoir isn't autobiography, how writing by hand unlocked memories she couldn't access through typing, and why the emotional truth of a story matters more than getting every fact perfectly straight. From barbershop quartets singing in hospital rooms to the voice of her late husband still guiding her, this conversation is a powerful reminder that love—in all its complicated, imperfect, enduring forms—is always worth writing about.

0:00 - Intro and month of love3:09 - Recording her audiobook
3:45 - British in America for 40 years
4:35 - The proper way to make tea
8:15 - The Crown and British secrets
10:14 - Fiction inspired by real life
13:19 - Memoir vs. autobiography explained
16:27 - How Gabi met Jay in Copenhagen
18:45 - Gabi's career in market research
19:53 - Reconnecting five years later
21:48 - Falling in love again during illness
25:28 - Love looks different at different phases
27:31 - Writing memoir by hand
29:50 - Love never dies
33:14 - Final thoughts and tea

• https://www.instagram.com/dara.levan/
• Website: daralevan.com3
https://gabicoatsworth.com/

QUOTES:

‘’If anybody here is thinking of writing a memoir, is start it by hand. Because when you're writing by hand, your brain has time to catch up with the words and bring back more stuff to your memory."
– Gabi Coatsworth

"Love looks differently at different phases. So much happens on a page we can't just do in our heads."
– Dara Levan