‘We’ve got something to celebrate,’ Rosie said.
I am not fond of surprises, especially if they disrupt plans already in place. I assumed that she had achieved some important milestone with her thesis. Or perhaps she had been offered a place in the psychiatry-training programme. This would be extremely good news, and I estimated the probability of sex at greater than 80%.
‘We’re pregnant,’ she said.
Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are now married and living in New York. Don has been teaching while Rosie completes her second year at Columbia Medical School. Just as Don is about to announce that Gene, his philandering best friend from Australia, is coming to stay, Rosie drops a bombshell: she’s pregnant.
In true Tillman style, Don instantly becomes an expert on all things obstetric. But in between immersing himself in a new research study on parenting and implementing the Standardised Meal System (pregnancy version), Don’s old weaknesses resurface. And while he strives to get the technicalities right, he gets the emotions all wrong, and risks losing Rosie when she needs him most.
The Rosie Effect is as charming and hilarious as its predecessor.
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Graeme at the Canberra Readers, Writers and Storytellers Festival
‘Readers identify with Don in that we see through his eyes, but we identify with Rosie because what we watch him do, we receive largely as she does, with fascination and sometimes bafflement. What results is no less than classic Hitchcockian suspense…’
‘[Don Tillman is] one of the most endearing, charming and fascinating literary characters I have met in a long time.’
‘[A] romantic comedy that’s just as smart, funny and heartwarming as the original.’
‘Graeme Simsion has created perhaps the first thoroughly comic autistic hero…This good-hearted, pacy, thoroughly enjoyable novel takes a significant step towards showing that all human variants are a potential source of life‑affirming comedy.’
‘Don Tillman…is a gem, an empirical laser trained on human shortcomings, especially male ones, and even more especially his own. He is also utterly charming in his lack of guile and his belief in improvability. Through him, Simsion…deals with issues of nature, nurture, gender, free will and the vagaries of the human heart with a deceptively light touch.’
‘There’s no sophomore [second-novel] slump here…It’s a funny novel that also made me think about relationships: what makes them work and how we have to keep investing time and energy to make them better. A sweet, entertaining, and thought-provoking book.’
‘Don Tillman helps us believe in possibility, makes us proud to be human beings, and the bonus is this: he keeps us laughing like hell. I’d love to have a beer with the humane and hilarious Graeme Simsion’.
‘Don himself, pedantically single-focused as ever, is increasingly charismatic and the left-field resolution of his problems is as satisfyingly credible as it is delightfully unexpected.’
‘Laugh-out loud funny, poignant and so ingenious and compelling you feel as if you want to jump into the world of the novel and join in. In Don’s confessionals, there are echoes of Bridget Jones, writer Nick Hornby and Amelie in the French movie hit…but essentially Don Tillman is utterly and beautifully unique and, be warned, you will fall in love with him.’
‘Very sweet, very wry.’
‘The Rosie Effect is a successful sequel; it will be enjoyed by readers who found The Rosie Project entertaining, and to new readers searching for a satisfying comedy, with a memorable main character and plenty of heart.’
‘As endearing as its predecessor.’
‘Another rollicking ride. I can only hope the madcap journey isn’t over yet.’
‘Don’s struggle to fit in with “ordinary” society makes for charming reading and the novel has insightful as well as comic moments.’
‘Unlike most sequels, this second book is very close to being as good as the first…The writing is witty and the characters charming, making it easy to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Here’s hoping for book number three.’
‘This charming new chapter in the Tillman chronicles leaves you hoping it won’t be the last.’
‘Heartwarming, poignant and often hilarious, The Rosie Effect is a worthy second chapter in Don and Rosie’s story.’
‘Don and Rosie are back!…Readers who loved the first book are in for another treat.' STARRED Review
‘[A] winning sequel…The Rosie Effect is a celebration of the best attributes to be found in a friend, a husband, or a father, regardless of the way they are expressed.' STARRED Review
‘A wholly absorbing, vivid read that leaves you pining to be reunited with its characters every time you put it down—if you’re able to.’
‘Brilliantly funny.’
‘In Simsion’s hands, Don’s voice once again shines as one of the most unique in contemporary fiction.’