In this devastating, beautiful and deeply moving memoir of the loss of his son, Rob Delaney explores what life really means, and why it matters.

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's beautiful, bright, deeply alive son Henry died. This is the story of what happens when you lose a child, and everything you discover about life in the process. Why does he feel compelled to talk about it, to write about it, to disseminate information designed to make people feel something like what he felt? What his wife feels? What his other sons feel? Done properly or well, it will hurt them. Why does he want to hurt people?

Because, despite the death of his son, Rob still loves people. For that reason, he wants them to understand.

First published: Thursday 20th October 2022