On the cusp of his 30th birthday, Matt Beckford believes he finally has his life sorted: a high-paying job he loves and is good at, the perfect apartment in New York and his adoring, albeit scatterbrained, girlfriend Elaine. After a lovers' squabble over whose turn it is to get dinner together, the couple comes to a mutual decision that neither of them is in love with the other and hasn't been for quite some time. The breakup is almost too easy -- Matt moves to the Sofa from Hell and Elaine goes about her life with the same breezy attitude. Where's the crying, the yelling, the emotional black hole they both should be spiraling down?

Matt puts in for a job transfer to Australia in the hopes that he can escape from the suffocation of this dying relationship. Unfortunately, the position isn't open for another three months, and Matt can't stay in their apartment one second longer. Deciding to take a little sabbatical from his life, Matt packs up and heads home to Birmingham, England, to live with his parents. Surely this wasn't the life he was supposed to have by the time he was 30?

Back at his old stomping grounds, Matt decides to look up all of his old schoolmates and check in to see how everyone else has been since turning 30. His childhood best friend, Gershwin, is now married with a four-year-old daughter. Ginny, his on-again-off-again-not-really-girlfriend-but- kinda, has returned to their school as an art teacher. As Matt settles into a routine of grocery shopping for his mum, babysitting for Gershwin and having drinks at their old pub with Ginny, life seems to be anything but predictable and completely satisfying. That is until Matt starts to find out everyone's dirty little secrets...

With the advent of "Lad Lit" riding on the coattails of Chick Lit, Mike Gayle has turned out a handful of charming reads. TURNING THIRTY deals with the questions of "what have I done," "what am I doing" and "where am I going" with humor, grace and maturity. Perhaps turning 30 isn't so terrifying after all!