"More Than Enough" | Reviewed by Chris Stuckenschneider

With a list of bestsellers to her name, and an ardent following, books by Anna Quinlen are enthusiastically welcomed. Her newest, “More Than Enough,” is beautifully written, with believable characters dealing with common issues we all face. This time around the author's focus is on family, identity and secrets long kept.

Forty-year-old Polly, a New York City resident, has been happily married for six years to Mark, her second husband, a vet at the Bronx Zoo. Polly is a dedicated English teacher at a private girls’ school, and feels fulfilled by her marriage and career. She’s an intelligent, caring woman, and grateful to have met Mark, the exact opposite of her “cheating snake of a first husband,” a Brit named Benedict.

The only loss in Mark and Polly’s marriage is the couple’s inability to get pregnant. Despite continued fertility treatment, the couple hasn’t had success.

A group of tight-knit friends support Polly, members of a book club that meets monthly, but never reads the book they've chosen. For her 40^th birthday, the friends give Polly a DNA kit on a lark. Though Polly thinks it’s funny she’s also curious, on occasion wondering why she has blue eyes when her parents’ eyes are brown.

Polly’s father has dementia and can’t fill her in on far flung relatives. Though Polly’s always been close to him, she struggles mightily with her mother, a judge, who seemed more interested in her legal career than raising a daughter. Polly’s brother Garrison is gay and though he’s close to Polly, he urges her to accept their mom for who she is.

Several weeks after Polly submits her DNA, the results come back with nothing of significance, other than a “second degree relative” also having taken the test. When Talia Burton contacts Polly from Vermont, confessing she's submitted DNA, Polly believes Talia might be related to her and travels to Vermont so they can meet, only to learn that Talia is Black, her mother an orphan, originally from Ghana.

Polly and Talia, who is only 18, correspond, agreeing there must have been a mistake in the DNA test, yet staying in contact because they have hit it off. When Talia’s father contacts Polly, she gets answers about why Talia submitted her DNA. Talia has been trying to fill a void because her mother recently committed suicide.

As answers to Polly’s lineage fall into place, other dilemmas come into play. Polly's friend's cancer returns, Mark’s parents endure a natural disaster, and Polly suffers a devastating loss. Conflicts and situations in “More Than Enough” are heartfelt and realistic, so true to life that readers will be able to plug people they know into the roles the characters play.

This novel is another winner. Just what readers have come to expect—classic Anna Quindlen.

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