---
product_id: 1303269
title: "The Rosie Project: A Novel"
price: "€ 18.95"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/1303269-the-rosie-project-a-novel
store_origin: AT
region: Austria
---

# The Rosie Project: A Novel

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- **What is this?** The Rosie Project: A Novel
- **How much does it cost?** € 18.95 with free shipping
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## Description

The international bestselling romantic comedy “bursting with warmth, emotional depth, and…humor,” ( Entertainment Weekly ) featuring the oddly charming, socially challenged genetics professor, Don, as he seeks true love. The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who’s decided it’s time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers. Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate for The Wife Project (even if she is “quite intelligent for a barmaid”). But Don is intrigued by Rosie’s own quest to identify her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie―and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you. Arrestingly endearing and entirely unconventional, Graeme Simsion’s distinctive debut “navigates the choppy waters of adult relationships, both romantic and platonic, with a fresh take ( USA TODAY ). “Filled with humor and plenty of heart, The Rosie Project is a delightful reminder that all of us, no matter how we’re wired, just want to fit in” ( Chicago Tribune ).

Review: Get this book. Put it at the top of your TBR pile. Be blown away. - This is the funniest book I've read in ages, but it's perfectly seasoned with deeper emotion, too: poignancy, bitterness, regret, sympathy, vicarious embarrassment, and a whole lot of sweetness and delight. The hero and narrator, genetics professor Don Tillman, has Asperger's Syndrome, but has so little self insight that even after researching the subject and giving a presentation on Asperger's to a group of young people with that diagnosis, he doesn't recognize himself as a member of their tribe. He recognizes his inability to decipher social cues, but just figures he's wired differently. He lives by his schedule, planning every activity to the second--for example, it takes Don three minutes, twenty seconds to shower, unless he washes his hair, in which case it takes an extra minute and twelve seconds "due to the requirement that the conditioner remain in place for sixty seconds"--and he does not cope well with deviations from his plans. Approaching 40, Don has decided he wants a wife, though none of his prior relationships have progressed beyond the first date. He attributes this to a failure to properly screen out unsuitable candidates, and he develops a sixteen page questionnaire "incorporating current best practice to filter out the time wasters, the disorganized, […], the crystal gazers, the horoscope readers, the fashion obsessives, the religious fanatics, the vegans, the sports watchers, the creationists, the smokers, the scientifically illiterate, the homeopaths, leaving, ideally, the perfect partner. " His two friends (his only two friends) warn him that his standards might be a teensy bit unreasonable, but Don presses on, resulting in several more disastrous first dates. When Rosie walks into Don's office, he thinks she is one of the candidates for The Wife Project, and she fails in almost every category--she works at a bar (which he assumes makes her stupid), is perpetually late (time waster), smokes occasionally, doesn't eat meat, wears jewelry and make up and dyes her hair (fashion obsessive)--but it turns out she wants his help as a geneticist, as she is trying to locate her biological father. And of course, as wrong as Rosie is on paper, she's really perfect for Don (if only he were not so blinded by logic). Often I don't like stories based on the "big misunderstanding" trope, because the conflict seems artificial where a simple conversation could sort out the confusion, but that's not the case here: Don's life is full of social misunderstandings, and they're not the least bit contrived because there's nothing 'simple' about conversation for him. Don is clueless and rigid and sometimes unintentionally offensive, but he's also unbelievably entertaining (occasionally on purpose), endearingly well-intentioned, and often accidentally romantic in the determined lengths to which he will go to help Rosie with The Father Project. You cannot help but get in his corner as he fumbles his way--hilariously--toward true love against all odds.
Review: A delightful novel about Aspergers - I found this a very engaging book with the main charcter, an unlikely hero, both likeable and admirable. He is a highly intelligent man with the affliction of Asperger's Syndrome Highly functioning Aspergers may quarrel with the term "affliction" but I would argue that it is not pejorative and also, it seems to me, that the main character would prefer not to have the condition. He is very well aware of his limitations in regard to socialisation and inter-action with others and the constraints this social ineptitude places on him generally as well as on the likelihood of him meeting and engaging a woman enough for her to want to marry him. His dating attempts and his approach in attracting a woman with the right qualities that he considers vital for his wife-to-be are very humourous. I am not all that familiar with Aspergers Syndrome apart from what I have read about it plus it seems to me that many men suffer slightly from this condition. I say this a little tongue in cheek. Nenertheless, I found that this novel seems to really capture well the characteristics, behaviour and perspective of people with this condition. Don is so wonderfully matter-of-fact about his limitations which he doesn't really regard as limitations even though he can see the frustration and sometimes anger his behaviour causes in others. He is practical, efficient and also helpful and he wishes he would get on better with people but without the slightest feeling of self-pity. He is a fully contained person except he thinks it is time he was married. The only very slight reservation I had about the characterisation is that Don who discusses things openly and honestly, never mentions that he misses sex. While he would not be missing the emotional side of sex, I would expect a normal man of his age to be somewhat sexually frustrated without even an occasional partner. I am not going to say anything about the story and the other characters. I personally dislike book and film reviews which tell the reader what the storyline is, what each of the characters did and thought. Why would I read a book when someone encapsulates it all? I regard it as somewhat of a spoiler. I would just like to urge people to read this book and enjoy it as much as I did. People who have read another excellent book which freatures an Aspergers as narrator in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, will recognise similarities between the two fictional characters and their delightful matter-of-factness. They are both appealing characters, wise in many ways and kind to others even though they struggle with experiencing emotions. I found both books a very good read and I was sorry to say goodbye to the main protagonists. If I feel like that at the end of a book, for me it signifies a good novel.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #13,771 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #131 in Humorous Fiction #489 in Romantic Comedy (Books) #1,441 in New Adult & College Romance (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 79,445 Reviews |

## Images

![The Rosie Project: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71Nbu7On1rL.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Get this book. Put it at the top of your TBR pile. Be blown away.
*by C***S on January 6, 2014*

This is the funniest book I've read in ages, but it's perfectly seasoned with deeper emotion, too: poignancy, bitterness, regret, sympathy, vicarious embarrassment, and a whole lot of sweetness and delight. The hero and narrator, genetics professor Don Tillman, has Asperger's Syndrome, but has so little self insight that even after researching the subject and giving a presentation on Asperger's to a group of young people with that diagnosis, he doesn't recognize himself as a member of their tribe. He recognizes his inability to decipher social cues, but just figures he's wired differently. He lives by his schedule, planning every activity to the second--for example, it takes Don three minutes, twenty seconds to shower, unless he washes his hair, in which case it takes an extra minute and twelve seconds "due to the requirement that the conditioner remain in place for sixty seconds"--and he does not cope well with deviations from his plans. Approaching 40, Don has decided he wants a wife, though none of his prior relationships have progressed beyond the first date. He attributes this to a failure to properly screen out unsuitable candidates, and he develops a sixteen page questionnaire "incorporating current best practice to filter out the time wasters, the disorganized, […], the crystal gazers, the horoscope readers, the fashion obsessives, the religious fanatics, the vegans, the sports watchers, the creationists, the smokers, the scientifically illiterate, the homeopaths, leaving, ideally, the perfect partner. " His two friends (his only two friends) warn him that his standards might be a teensy bit unreasonable, but Don presses on, resulting in several more disastrous first dates. When Rosie walks into Don's office, he thinks she is one of the candidates for The Wife Project, and she fails in almost every category--she works at a bar (which he assumes makes her stupid), is perpetually late (time waster), smokes occasionally, doesn't eat meat, wears jewelry and make up and dyes her hair (fashion obsessive)--but it turns out she wants his help as a geneticist, as she is trying to locate her biological father. And of course, as wrong as Rosie is on paper, she's really perfect for Don (if only he were not so blinded by logic). Often I don't like stories based on the "big misunderstanding" trope, because the conflict seems artificial where a simple conversation could sort out the confusion, but that's not the case here: Don's life is full of social misunderstandings, and they're not the least bit contrived because there's nothing 'simple' about conversation for him. Don is clueless and rigid and sometimes unintentionally offensive, but he's also unbelievably entertaining (occasionally on purpose), endearingly well-intentioned, and often accidentally romantic in the determined lengths to which he will go to help Rosie with The Father Project. You cannot help but get in his corner as he fumbles his way--hilariously--toward true love against all odds.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A delightful novel about Aspergers
*by N***O on April 3, 2013*

I found this a very engaging book with the main charcter, an unlikely hero, both likeable and admirable. He is a highly intelligent man with the affliction of Asperger's Syndrome Highly functioning Aspergers may quarrel with the term "affliction" but I would argue that it is not pejorative and also, it seems to me, that the main character would prefer not to have the condition. He is very well aware of his limitations in regard to socialisation and inter-action with others and the constraints this social ineptitude places on him generally as well as on the likelihood of him meeting and engaging a woman enough for her to want to marry him. His dating attempts and his approach in attracting a woman with the right qualities that he considers vital for his wife-to-be are very humourous. I am not all that familiar with Aspergers Syndrome apart from what I have read about it plus it seems to me that many men suffer slightly from this condition. I say this a little tongue in cheek. Nenertheless, I found that this novel seems to really capture well the characteristics, behaviour and perspective of people with this condition. Don is so wonderfully matter-of-fact about his limitations which he doesn't really regard as limitations even though he can see the frustration and sometimes anger his behaviour causes in others. He is practical, efficient and also helpful and he wishes he would get on better with people but without the slightest feeling of self-pity. He is a fully contained person except he thinks it is time he was married. The only very slight reservation I had about the characterisation is that Don who discusses things openly and honestly, never mentions that he misses sex. While he would not be missing the emotional side of sex, I would expect a normal man of his age to be somewhat sexually frustrated without even an occasional partner. I am not going to say anything about the story and the other characters. I personally dislike book and film reviews which tell the reader what the storyline is, what each of the characters did and thought. Why would I read a book when someone encapsulates it all? I regard it as somewhat of a spoiler. I would just like to urge people to read this book and enjoy it as much as I did. People who have read another excellent book which freatures an Aspergers as narrator in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, will recognise similarities between the two fictional characters and their delightful matter-of-factness. They are both appealing characters, wise in many ways and kind to others even though they struggle with experiencing emotions. I found both books a very good read and I was sorry to say goodbye to the main protagonists. If I feel like that at the end of a book, for me it signifies a good novel.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A charmer full of humor and heart!
*by R***N on November 11, 2013*

Don Tillman, a brilliant but socially challenged genetics professor, is at a loss as to why he -- a prime specimen of mental and physical fitness, with an above average income, should find himself still single at the age of thirty-nine. Previous attempts at finding a life partner, while attempting to operate within society's accepted norm, a.k.a. the "traditional dating paradigm," had only led to unmitigated calamities such as The Apricot Ice Cream Disaster with Elizabeth the computer scientist -- an encore of such horrors to be avoided at all costs. Such forays into traditional mating "rituals" having proved to be complete wastes of time, money, and his not inconsiderable intellectual resources, and so Don has abandoned his search. Thus resigned to his single state, Don is relatively content, until a chance opportunity to speak on the subject of Asperger's Syndrome opens his eyes to the possibility of approaching the dormant Wife Project rationally and scientifically. The result is a sixteen-page survey designed to eliminate those deemed incompatible -- the drinkers, smokers, picky eaters, chronically late, and otherwise intellectually lacking and therefore wholly unsuitable as long-term candidates for Don's project. With the scientific rubrics in place, Don is sure of long-term, scientifically validated success until Rosie Jarman walks into his office. Rosie is ostensibly a Wife Project applicant, but one also in search of her biological father -- the latter a quest Don is imminently suitable with which to assist. As Don gets to know Rosie, it quickly becomes clear that she is the antithesis of the ideal candidate the Wife Project questionnaire was designed to uncover -- and Don is forced to confront the idea that the most unsuitable woman in the world might just be his perfect match. People, READ THIS BOOK. The last time I found myself so utterly captivated by an unconventional romance was Rainbow Rowell's Attachments -- and to those of you who've read and loved that novel as I do, make of that comparison what you will. *wink* Author Graeme Simsion takes his background in IT consulting and screenwriting to craft a fast-paced, charming debut novel as full of unabashed romantic heart as it is of the scientific precision with which Don constructs and lives every aspect of his life. And much like Don, pre-Rosie, Simsion's prose and plotline are crafted with a laser-like precision -- this is a textbook romantic comedy that manages to hit all the requisite story beats while remaining wholly fresh and unique thanks to Don's delightfully prickly and precise personality. Rosie describes Don resembling Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird -- if only he had the right glasses and haircut. And while I may never recover from the swoon induced by the mental image of an endearing, socially-challenged Gregory Peck, for what it's worth in my mind Don most closely resembles Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, with a slightly less acerbic wit and a touch more warmth. Don wants to figure out this puzzle called life -- he'd like to better navigate society's murky waters, but without the emotional component or drive serving as an impetus to do so, he's at a loss...until he meets Rosie. And therein lies the genius of Simsion's characterization -- The Rosie Project isn't about "fixing" people, or excising everything that makes Don a wholly, wonderfully unique individual. It is the story of one man whose genetic make-up conditions him to view the world through a rational, scientific lens, meeting a woman whose fractured home life has conditioned her to view it through an emotional lens -- and finding in their relationship and polar opposites personalities a connection, validation, and support that complements one to the other. We're all flawed in some respect, and perhaps the greatest danger lurks in buying into the lie that society's perfect standard, if unmet or unrealized, equals some sort of human failure. As Don learns on his roller-coaster journey, change -- equal parts terrifying and exhilarating -- is possible for even the most recalcitrant member of the human race. I find myself equal parts intrigued and terrified at the thought of Hollywood turning this charmer of a novel into a film -- but Simsion has done his part by providing a detailed road map for the transition of Don's story from page to screen. Rarely is a novel so perfectly suited for film, as The Rosie Project is essentially the classic screwball romantic comedy in novel form. This is the rare story that hits all the beats of the format -- from the "meet cute" (here, the infamous Jacket Incident) through the resolution/joyful defeat without feeling the least bit tired or over-done. Don's status as a romantic hero operating from the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum brings a freshness, warmth, humor, and unexpected vulnerability to the page. This is a story that is a stark, gorgeously-rendered reminder of what it means to be human, of the beauty and pain that make up life in equal measure. The Rosie Project is a warm, humorous, always honest, occasionally heart-rending tale of love found, nearly lost, and found again between two of the most perfectly imperfect and -- on paper, at least -- incompatible characters one could hope to meet. A charming, life-affirming, hope-filled romance, Simsion's debut is as much a love letter to life as it is a beautifully-crafted romance between an atypical hero and his maddeningly wrong "perfect" match. This novel is an absolute gem, and I cannot wait to see who Simsion introduces to readers next.

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Rosie Project: A Novel
- The Rosie Effect: A Novel
- The Rosie Result

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*Store origin: AT*
*Last updated: 2026-10-06*