Take an instantly recognizable social dilemma?attending a wedding alone?add a good laugh (and maybe a cry), and meet The Singles, the warm and witty debut by Boston Globe ?Love Letters? columnist Meredith Goldstein.

Beth ?Bee? Evans's first vow as a bride is that everyone on her list be invited to bring a guest to her lavish, Chesapeake Bay nuptials. When Hannah, Vicki, Rob, Joe, and Nancy one by one decline Bee's generous offer, the frustrated bride dubs them the ?Singles,? adrift on her seating chart as well as in life.