Kind of, Sort of, Maybe, But Probably Not
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  • Published: 20 February 2024
  • ISBN: 9781761341069
  • Imprint: Viking
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $34.99

Kind of, Sort of, Maybe, But Probably Not

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
20 Feb 2024
EBook
20 Feb 2024
Audiobook
20 Feb 2024
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A charming, nostalgic, quirky, uplifting novel of people young and old finding their tribe, gaining courage to be themselves and perhaps falling in love, too.

Librarian Phoebe Cotton lives with misophonia. The sound of other people crunching an apple, slurping their tea or snapping chewing gum fills her with a rage that she buries deep within.

Mortified by her ‘Not Quite Right’ brain, she hides away inside 6 Salmon Street, the family home that her formidable grandmother Dorothy has abandoned for a more convivial life at the Western Retreat Retirement Village. But when Phoebe begins receiving mysterious postcards in the mail, she slowly, but surely, finds herself being pulled back out into the world and towards Monty, the sweet postal clerk.

Across town, Suze, a university student with a high distinction in study avoidance, is clinging to the hope that the neglectful J might actually be her boyfriend. When J’s attention turns to Ky, it sets Suze on a path that leads her to 6 Salmon Street and Phoebe Cotton.

Together with Suze and Monty, Phoebe goes on a mission to solve the mystery of the postcards but ends up finding much, much more, including acceptance, strength and love.
  • Published: 20 February 2024
  • ISBN: 9781761341069
  • Imprint: Viking
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $34.99
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About the author

Imbi Neeme

Imbi Neeme is a recovering blogger, ardent novelist and spreadsheet enthusiast. Her manuscript The Spill was awarded the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize and published by Penguin Random House Australia in 2020. She blogged for many years at Not Drowning, Mothering, which won the 2010 Bloggies Award for best ANZ Weblog. She lives in Footscray, Melbourne, on the right side of the Maribyrnong.

portrait photo of Imbi Neeme

Also by Imbi Neeme

The Spill
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Praise for Kind of, Sort of, Maybe, But Probably Not

Imbi Neeme writes the big and small moments of life with huge heart and boundless empathy. I finished this book in one great delicious gulp, laughing out loud, and I felt GOOD. And HAPPY. More books like this in the world, please.

Kate Mildenhall

Neeme is a natural storyteller. In this second novel, she establishes a narrative pacing that glides, allowing readers to melt into the story of these two heart-warming characters.

Jessie Tu, The Age

Warm, wacky and wonderful. The mystery at the heart of this story cuts a path through the mysteries of all hearts, illuminating new, old and rekindled relationships with the sparkle, hope and melancholy of a 90s sharehouse party.

Paul Dalgarno

I’m jealous of people who haven’t read this book yet because they get to read it for the first time. Kind of, Sort of, Maybe… But Probably Not is spectacular, an absolute delight to read. Heart warming, insightful and funny, I give it eleven thumbs up.

Katherine Collette

Imbi's book is like buying a dress and discovering it has pockets.

J.M. Green

A beautiful book.

Jessie Tu, The Bookshelf, ABC RN

This novel is insightful and funny, which is a good combination. The manuscript of Neeme’s first novel, The Spill, won the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize and was published the following year. Her follow-up confirms she is a writer with a future.

Stephen Romei, The Saturday Paper

[An] adventure cruises along throughout the scope of Kind of, Sort of, Maybe, But Probably Not, with some fun romantic side-plots, before being saved by an unexpected development at the end of the novel. Kind of, Sort of, Maybe, But Probably Not is Neeme’s second work of fiction and it provides insight into a life lived with extreme sensitivity to sound, which the author translates to the page with a deft hand. The novel also tackles intergenerational life –particularly the relationships between grandchildren and grandparents – carefully, and with an observant eye.

Ellie Fisher, ArtsHub