A Heart That Works

The Sunday Times bestselling, moving true story of love and loss - as heard on R4's Desert Island Discs

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A Heart That Works

By: Rob Delaney

Narrated by: Rob Delaney

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About this listen

Acclaimed writer and comedian Rob Delaney's honest, inspiring and unforgettable exploration of the fragile miracle of life, the mysteries of death, and the question of purpose for those left behind.

'A book that'll break a heart, and put it back together again . . . A life-changing read' STYLIST

'A beautiful monument' RICHARD OSMAN

'A viscerally extraordinary book' ELIZABETH DAY, HOW TO FAIL PODCAST

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Rob'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. 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.

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Readers love A Heart That Works:

'Just amazing. I found myself blasting through it in a weekend, reading a bit, having a good cry, reading a bit more. It was filled with honesty and tragedy and humour and lots of other stuff too.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Loved how savage and raw and moving and joyous it was to read their journey as a family. To voice those brutal angry feelings that grief bring up is so brave and wondrous and normalising . . . A great and necessary and inspiring read.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'I read this in one sitting. It is funny, poignant, heart-breaking, and sob inducingly brilliant. It shows the reader what real grief looks like whilst doing my favourite thing during hard times, laughing. It is filled with genuine love and emotion with the perfect amount of anger.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐©2022 Rob Delaney

Rob DelaneyRob DelaneyHodder & Stoughton

Entertainment & Celebrities

Grief & Loss

Indigenous Creators

Mental Health Awareness

Personal Development

Relationships

Celebrity

Funny

Heartfelt

Inspiring

Witty

Thought-Provoking

Entertainment & Celebrities Grief & Loss Indigenous Creators Mental Health Awareness Personal Development Relationships Celebrity Funny Heartfelt Inspiring Witty Thought-Provoking

Critic Reviews

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

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)

Most relevant

This book is probably the best book I’ve ever read. I cried and laughed so hard and felt so so many emotional s. I’m so grateful for the few hours I got to spend with it.