"In this raw memoir of loss, acclaimed writer and much-loved comedian Rob Delaney writes with absolute heartbreaking honesty about the death of his young son."
It's the story of what happens when you lose a child, and everything you discover about life in the process. Told in Rob Delaney's wonderful way, with humour (I wasn't sure how, but it works) A Heart That Works is his intimate, unflinching and, incredible exploration of loss.
The book is about Delaney’s son, Henry. His beautiful, bright, gloriously alive son Henry. He was one when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Incomprehensible, but an experience Delaney wants to share, feels like he must share. Delaney, his wife and two sons had just moved to London to begin filming Catastrophe, the show that was to make his name in the UK, when Henry was born. From his heartbreaking diagnosis, to the torturous treatment, and the ultimate unimaginable tragedy of his death, we see and we feel the unbearable pain.
Not for the faint-hearted, but a vital book nevertheless. A book that may help people going through the same situation, and a book that will educate us all about how to deal with loss. A book that is written with wit and maybe confrontational humour, in spite of the subject. We meet a family who use humour as medicine, who come together, bound by love, bound as a unit of care givers. I'm sure writing this book was cathartic for Delaney, and much as we all wish Henry didn't die, that any child should die before their parents without living a long happy and healthy life, I am mightily glad Delaney had the strength and courage to write this book and share his story.
| Primary Genre | Biographies & Autobiographies |
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In this memoir of loss, acclaimed writer and comedian Rob Delaney grapples with the fragile miracle of life, the mysteries of death, and the question of purpose for those left behind.
When you're a parent and your child gets hurt or sick, you not only try to help them get better but you also labour under the general belief that you can help them get better. That's not always the case though. Sometimes the nurses and the doctors can't fix what's wrong. Sometimes children die.
Rob Delaney's beautiful, bright, gloriously alive son Henry died. He was one when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. An experience beyond comprehension, but an experience Rob must share. Why does he feel compelled to talk about it, to write about it, to make people feel something like what he feels when he knows it will hurt them? Because, despite Henry's death, Rob still loves people. For that reason, he wants them to understand.
A Heart That Works is an intimate, unflinching and fiercely funny exploration of loss - from the harrowing illness to the vivid, bodily impact of grief and the blind, furious rage that follows, through to the forceful, unstoppable love that remains.
This is the story of what happens when you lose a child, and everything you discover about life in the process.
A Heart That Works features in the following genres: Biographies & Autobiographies, Memoirs, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Autobiography: arts and entertainment, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Fiction: narrative themes, Fiction, Biography: arts and entertainment, Biography: general, Non-Fiction Books of the Month, Recommendations
A Heart That Works is available in Paperback, Hardback
A Heart That Works was written by Rob Delaney and published by Coronet an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton
A Heart That Works has 184 pages
£9.89
