A Heart That Works: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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I think this book is a small gift to others who are grieving. It doesn’t give any answers, but Rob’s beautifully vulnerable journey helps wrap us in a blanket that we are not alone in our feelings. Lots of pain and grief with a dose of humor.

When Henry finally dies, Delaney very specifically ropes off what he will and won't tell the reader: In 2016, Rob Delaney’s one-year-old son Henry was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Amidst hospital life, surgeries, chemotherapy and a newfound community of carers, his family learnt the starkest truths about life. This is a beautiful, beautiful book. I cried through a quarter of it. The five year anniversary of Conor’s passing from brain cancer is approaching and Rob Delaney puts into words SO well what that experience is like. This book is raw and heartbreaking and of course, since he’s a comedian, it’s just the right amount of funny. I want to say so much more about it but don’t feel I can do it justice.The voice behind the hit show Catastrophe, actor, writer, and comedian Rob Delaney probably didn’t want to talk to me, and for good reason. He certainly didn’t want to be in a position to be able to write his latest book, A Heart That Works, either. But he felt compelled. Spiegel & Grau has acquired North American rights to A Heart That Works, a memoir by actor Rob Delaney, from Meredith Miller at United Talent Agency, working in partnership with Avalon.

A Heart That Works is Delaney’s written expression of the experience, an intimate and fiercely funny exploration of what happened – from the harrowing events, to the vivid, bodily impact of grief and the blind, furious rage that follows, through to the forceful love left behind. For level access to the Royal Festival Hall from the Queen Elizabeth Hall Slip Road off Belvedere Road, please use the Southbank Centre Square Doors. The JCB Glass Lift is situated at this entrance and will take you to all floors. All floors are accessible from the main foyer on Level 2. If you need further assistance, our Visitor Assistants are here to help you. It was masterful, bring some tissues. I learned so much, about grief, joy, forbearance, kindness and family. A great read. After [Henry] died, I had the odd sensation of somehow being older than my parents, or at the very least having seen something that they hadn't, and it had changed me. ...No one had anything to offer me that could light my path and show me a way forward...That was a very sad and lonely feeling.Delaney describes watching Henry die at home. He encourages people to spend time with the bodies of recently deceased loved ones, if circumstances allow. He recalls telling “the loud builders next door my son was lying dead on our bed and we had to keep the windows open, so please stop work for the day.” The loud builders stopped. “I will not tell you anything else about the moments before or after Henry’s death,” Delaney writes, opting instead to outline the intensity of those moments in negative, and taking an implicit stand against the idea that writing honestly or usefully about the worst things in the world has to mean listing every single detail of what happened. “I can talk about them, but I don’t want to try to confine them to ink. Maybe you have experienced something like them, or maybe someday you will.”