Introduction

You are obese, Mrs. Moriarty.”Peggy Moriarty is stunned. She knows she’s let herself go a bit, but she thinks her young, skinny doctor is exaggerating. Her husband’s death fourteen years ago left her to raise their twins, Grace and Greg, alone. But now that they’re teenagers, doing their own things, her only hobby is watching Messages from Beyond, a show about a medium who connects the grieving with their deceased loved ones.When the twins leave for college, they give Peggy a gift certificate for an exercise class. At first, Peggy is insulted. But once the sting wears off, she realizes if she gets in shape, she might gain the confidence she needs to go on her favorite TV show and talk to her husband one last time.With help from her new friends at the gym and Carmen Tavarez, the mother of Grace’s boyfriend, Peggy begins to emerge from her prolonged grief and spread her wings. She may soon discover that her sum is more than a mother, a widow, and her body.

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Excerpt

Chapter 1
This is the day I start my diet, Peggy thinks when she wakes up. It’s what she tells herself every morning, but today she means it.
Yesterday, her new physician, Dr. Richardson, pointed at her medical chart. “You are obese, Mrs. Moriarty.”
Obese! At most, she needs to lose thirty to forty pounds. That does not make her obese. Obese is her old next-door neighbor, Lannie Fitzgerald, who had to have her clothes specially made and drove around the supermarket in one of those motorized carts. Peggy is a long way from that. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. How does the title More Than relate to the book?

2. Discuss how Peggy reshapes her life both intentionally and unintentionally throughout the story. Which change was most meaningful? Most unexpected?

3. Peggy struggles with letting go as her children head off to college. How does her relationship change with Grace and Greg? Do these relationships change in different ways? Are you surprised with the evolution of one more than the other?

4. Forgiveness and letting go are major themes throughout this story. How does Peggy finally decide to move on after so many years? How do Grace and Greg resolve their relationships with Peggy? With Patrick?

5. Peggy and Patrick regularly argued about her desire to work. Do you think if they hadn’t been arguing about that, she would have worked outside the home after his death?

6. Do you think Peggy and Patrick’s relationship would have lasted had Patrick not died? What do you and your partner disagree about?

7. Before Patrick’s death, Peggy felt her life was consumed by taking care of her children and she was losing her sense of self. Can you think of an example when you felt you were giving too much to your family? How do you practice self-care? Is it easy for you to ask for help? What advice would you give to Peggy?

8. How does Peggy's view of Lynda McGarry change throughout her own journey? Would Peggy have been able to heal her wounds without Lynda?

9. Do you believe Lynda has the ability to communicate with the dead?

10. In the beginning of the story Peggy doesn’t trust Julian, but over the course of the novel she realizes she judged him unfairly. Is Peggy's changing view of Julian related to her changing relationship with her own children? Her relationship with Carmen?

11. At the beginning of the novel, Peggy is reluctant to attend boot camp. By the end of the novel, it’s become a big part of her life. What changed? Would she have been as successful in boot camp if Roni and Carmen hadn’t befriended her?

12. Peggy, Roni, and Carmen are all very different, yet their friendship works. What is it that makes your friendships works?

13. Do you think Henry is a good match for Peggy? Why or why not?

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