Tranquility Hazelwood is anything but tranquil. Independent, determined, opinionated, talkative, and frustrated, yes. Cool and composed, no. And what’s been ruffling her feathers lately is that question a certain speaker dared tell a group of single women to ask themselves: “Why am I not married by now?”

That question sticks in her mind like a thorn. Still unmarried, and with her biological clock ticking, her impatience is rising—someone thinks it’s her fault she’s not married yet?

When she finally stops seeing red and really thinks about this audacious question, she discovers she has an irresistible urge to ask other single women the very same thing. Nicely, of course. Sincerely. Maybe their answers will help her figure out some of her own issues, starting with that question of why God hadn’t sent along Mr. Right yet.

Two lists and 21 interviews later those answers weren’t exactly what she’d been expecting.