More Than Enough: A Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Quindlen is as observant and as wonderfully readable as ever, attuned to women’s lives and the nuances of their voices.”—Jennifer Weiner, The New York Times Book Review
A woman confronts the surprising results of an ancestry test and begins to question the meaning of family and friendship in this wise, tender novel teeming with life—from the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author of After Annie
No one knows you like your book club.
High school English teacher Polly Goodman can talk about everything and anything with the women in her book club, which is why they’ve become her closest friends and, along with her veterinarian husband, the bedrock of her life. Her students, her fraught relationship with her mother, her struggles with IVF—Polly’s book club friends have heard about it all.
But when they give Polly an ancestry test kit as a joke, the results match her with a stranger. It is clear to Polly that this match is a mistake, but still she cannot help but comb through her family history for answers. Then, when it seems that the book club circle of four will become three, Polly learns how friendships can change your life in the most profound ways.
Written with Anna Quindlen’s trademark warmth, humor, and insight into the power of love and hope, More Than Enough explores how we find ourselves again and again through the relationships that define us.
A woman confronts the surprising results of an ancestry test and begins to question the meaning of family and friendship in this wise, tender novel teeming with life—from the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author of After Annie
No one knows you like your book club.
High school English teacher Polly Goodman can talk about everything and anything with the women in her book club, which is why they’ve become her closest friends and, along with her veterinarian husband, the bedrock of her life. Her students, her fraught relationship with her mother, her struggles with IVF—Polly’s book club friends have heard about it all.
But when they give Polly an ancestry test kit as a joke, the results match her with a stranger. It is clear to Polly that this match is a mistake, but still she cannot help but comb through her family history for answers. Then, when it seems that the book club circle of four will become three, Polly learns how friendships can change your life in the most profound ways.
Written with Anna Quindlen’s trademark warmth, humor, and insight into the power of love and hope, More Than Enough explores how we find ourselves again and again through the relationships that define us.
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Community Reviews
More Than Enough is a thoughtful, well-told story about family, friendship, and the secrets that shape us long before we know they exist. Anna Quindlen follows Polly Goodman. She is a high school English teacher whose life is already stretched thin by IVF, marriage, work, and an aging father in memory care. Then her book club friends give her an ancestry test as a joke because apparently nothing says funny like accidentally detonating someone’s entire family history.
I liked the way Quindlen rebuilt Polly’s life through her relationships. Her book club friends were easily my favorite part. They are funny, honest, and nosy in the loving way. Exactly the type of women you want around when your life starts unraveling. They encourage Polly, challenge her, and become the support system she does not always know how to ask for. I loved that friendship was treated as a real foundation for the story.
Polly’s marriage to Mark also worked well for me. He is steady, patient, and deeply supportive as Polly’s fertility struggles begin taking over their life together. The way IVF turns intimacy into timing, pressure, and procedure felt painful and believable. I could not personally relate to Polly’s obsession with pregnancy, but I understood how badly she wanted certainty in a life that kept handing her unanswered questions.
The family secrets were interesting. Polly began rethinking how she saw her mother, sister, and the father she loved. Her mother frustrated me so much. The emotional distance, dismissiveness, and casual way she withheld major information from Polly made my eye twitch. Mothers like that are exhausting. No wonder Polly feels responsible for carrying the whole world. She was never really taught how to share the load. That part felt painfully familiar to me.
The book never became riveting for me, but it did keep me curious. It is more of a reflective family drama than a page-turner. The story focuses on the women around Polly, complicated inheritance of family, and slow work of learning that love does not have to mean carrying everything alone.
Kirsten Sieh’s narration was excellent. I appreciated that she does not overperform with a dozen forced voices. Her style feels natural and conversational. Like sitting with a friend who is spilling family tea over coffee while also giving you surprisingly solid life advice.
Pick up More Than Enough if you enjoy literary family fiction, midlife stories, complicated mother-daughter relationships, found family friendships, and books that feel more reflective than dramatic.
I enjoyed the book but felt that there were so many deep issues that it could’ve been several books. Didn’t get complete closure in some.
So much to absorb - relationships, familial and otherwise, health issues including end of life, and women in an unconventional bookclub. Wasn't sure how Anna Quindlen would tie it all together at the end, but she did, quickly but very fulfillingly.
https://cerebralspice.wordpress.com/2026/04/07/book-list-more-than-enough-by-anna-quindlen
Longtime reader of Anna Quindlen and a big fan. This is quick to read and may be more chick lit. Worth your time, and a good way to get to know Quindlen's work.
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