The Rosie Effect

'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.

Shortlisted, Indie Book Award for Fiction, 2015
Shortlisted, Booksellers Choice Award, 2015

‘Don Tillman…is a gem, an empirical laser trained on human shortcomings. Through him, Simsion…deals with issues of nature, nurture, gender, free will and the vagaries of the human heart with a deceptively light touch.’ Evening Standard

‘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.’ Independent

‘Unlike most sequels, this second book is very close to being as good as the first…The writing is witty and the characters charming.’Dominion Post