Mike Gayle

A music journo for most of his twenties, Dillon’s life is thrown into a spin when the magazine folds and he’s asked to become Agony Uncle for a rival publication. Amid the plethora of post about cheating boyfriends, crushes on pop stars and embarassing teenage body problems, he gets a letter from someone – someone he thinks is a stranger – asking whether she could have fallen in love with her best friend. And so Dillon tries to advise on whether there’s always more than a flicker in the candle when best friends are having dinner for two.

Finding friends is hard to do…When thirty-two-year-old Rob Brooks’s long term girlfriend asks him to leave London and live with her in Manchester not only will it mean moving cities and changing the only job he’s ever had, it’ll also mean leaving behind his best mate in the entire world, Phil Clarke. Believing in love conquering all Rob takes the plunge and convinced of his ability to make new friends Rob tries his best to sort out the situation. But when six months in he still finds himself without even so much as a regular drinking buddy he begins to realise that sometimes making friends in your thirties can be the hardest thing to do. With this is mind Rob begins a strategy that though risky has the potential to deliver the one thing he wants: a brand new friend. His strategy? Advertising in a classified ad in a Manchester magazine. After three excruciatingly embarrassing “bloke dates” Rob begins to despair. But then his luck changes. He finds himself a brand new friend. But there’s a problem. Apart from knowing less than nothing about music trivia, football and supermodels vital statistics Rob’s new friend has one huge flaw. She’s a girl.