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 will be published in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook, read by the author, on November 29. The acquisition was announced by Julie Grau, Spiegel & Grau Co-CEO.
In 2016, Delaney’s one-year-old son Henry was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The family had moved from Los Angeles to London when Delaney’s wife was pregnant with Henry, their third child. “Henry’s illness was a cataclysm that changed everything about their lives,” the publisher writes. “Amidst the hospital routine, surgeries, and brutal treatment, they found a newfound community of nurses, aides, caregivers, and fellow parents contending with the unthinkable. Two years later, Henry died, and his family watched their world fall away to reveal the things that matter most.”
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Delaney, the co-creator and co-star of the Amazon Prime comedy Catastrophe, said in a statement, “My son Henry’s illness and death put our family through the shredder. We’re still here somehow, but we are different now. Loving and then grieving Henry has changed us and how we look at the world. I hope our story can shine a little light into some very dark corners.”
“I’m honored to be the publisher of Henry’s story and work with Rob once again,” says Julie Grau, who published Delaney’s previous memoir Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. in 2013. “As a writer, Rob has a unique ability to conjure absurdity and profundity in a single breath, and it has never been used to greater effect than in writing about his family’s tragedy. The raw truths in these pages will speak to every reader and leave you changed in your perspective about the worst, and the best life has to offer.”