A Heart That Works

This book is so rich with grief and love and pain and humor and an incandescent, purifying, flame-throwing wrath. Though Delaney can't bring Henry back, he can - and does - show enough of him to the world to make a reader see him a little bit, know him a little bit, and fully love him. What an unbelievable gift -- Lauren Groff What a read. Its beauty and pain and humour and anger will help many people. This is a beautiful monument -- Richard Osman The weaving of the joy and pain, the love and loss, the absurdity of grief, is done so beautifully. It feels like a message in a bottle, a despatch, a communication from the depths of suffering and despair that ultimately brings a message of great hope -- Cathy Rentzenbrink It is a gift, it's an immense piece of work. It's brilliant. It's needed, like a deep, physical draught of something strong and cold -- Russell T. Davies I could have read about Henry for a thousand pages. It is impossible not to share in Delaney's tenderness, his attention, his anger, his night-black humor, and impossible not to see his son through his eyes: loved, learning, smiling ecstatically. I will turn to this book again and again, to feel deeply and to learn about this world from Henry -- Patricia Lockwood Warm and vivid and heartbreaking, humane and somehow even funny, Rob Delaney has written a very special tribute to a very special boy, and a beautiful treatise on what really matters in life -- Monica Heisey I got to know Henry through Rob's words. His sweet soft head. His amazing smile . . . I cried a lot but also felt hopeful because life goes on and Rob talks you through how that happens. I am in awe. It's a love letter to fatherhood and the most beautiful tribute to a child who is so deeply adored. This book will sit with me for a very long time -- Dawn O'Porter Delaney is a phenomenal storyteller . . . A Heart That Works is in the same league as The Year of Magical Thinking in its stark, clarified articulation of grief * Buzzfeed * I love this book, and it is a tough ride, filled with grace and beauty and unimaginable pain. I cried a number of times, laughed a lot, grieved with the Delaneys, and underlined so many moments of courage, exposure, humanity and the deepest meaning. All I can say is Wow -- Anne Lamott, author of BIRD BY BIRD This book is unlike anything I've ever read. Brutally honest, powerful, like a beautiful howl. A love letter to Delaney's precious boy. To his wife. His family. To parenthood. It is a book that will help so many grieving parents. I loved everything about it -- Laura Zigman, author of SEPARATION ANXIETY Emotionally raw, yet masterfully told. At the heart of this intimate story of coming to terms with the death is a stubborn embrace of life itself -- Mat Johnson, author of PYM I don't think I've ever read anything before that captures the enormity and power of parental love, how radical it is, how transformative and total -- Eleanor Catton It taught me a lot about grieving, life, death and parenting. Every parent should read it. Every human should read it -- Philippa Perry This is such an important, intimate and powerful book. It's unflinching. It stares grief right in the eyes and forces you to do the same -- Sue Perkins