The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: A Novel

by Marianne Cronin

Paperback, 2021

Call number

FIC CRO

Collection

Publication

Harper Perennial (2021), 352 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. HTML: "A beautiful debut, funny, tender, and animated by a willingness to confront life's obstacles and find a way to survive. . . . It celebrates friendship, finds meaning in difficulty and lets the reader explore dark places while always allowing for the possibility of light. Lenni and Margot are fine companions for all our springtime journeys."�??Harper's Bazaar, UK A charming, fiercely alive and disarmingly funny debut novel in the vein of John Green, Rachel Joyce, and Jojo Moyes�??a brave testament to the power of living each day to the fullest, a tribute to the stories that we live, and a reminder of our unlimited capacity for friendship and love. An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories. Seventeen-year-old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she's dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital's arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined. As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens for these unlikely companions who, between them, have been alive for one hundred years. Though their days are dwindling, both are determined to leave their mark on the world. With the help of Lenni's doting palliative care nurse and Father Arthur, the hospital's patient chaplain, Lenni and Margot devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived�??stories of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of unexpected tenderness and pure joy. Though the end is near, life isn't quite done with these unforgettable women just yet. Delightfully funny and bittersweet, heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot reminds us of the preciousness of life as it considers the legacy we choose to leave, how we influence the lives of others even after we're gone, and the wonder of a friendship that transcends t… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Maydacat
Lenin and Margot connect in the terminal ward in a hospital. They bond and realize that between them, they are 100 years old. Readers learn of their backstories through a series of flashbacks told by both the main characters. It’s no surprise how the story ends. Unhappiness is the theme of this
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book, and follows the characters like their shadows. While the novel gets high praise from many readers, I have to say I didn’t care for the writing style. And I must add that I took exception to the pointed misleading use of the Bible verse at the end of the story. Not my cup of tea.
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LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo
What a beautiful, sad and thought-provoking story — a skillfully spun tale laced with humor and wisdom. Based on the book summaries I read, I wasn’t sure this would “click” with me. I truly loved Cronin’s work and pleased to assign it a rare 5-star rating (although this distinction is
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getting a bit less rare within the past couple years. I’m not sure if I’m becoming too “easy” as I age, or if I’m getting more skilled at selecting books.) Put simply, “The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot” was a delightful read.
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LibraryThing member susan0316
This is a wonderful and emotional story about two women who become friends near the end of their lives. The two main characters are wonderful - 17 year old Lenni and 83 year old Margot will be characters that you won't soon forget. They'll make you laugh and they'll make you cry but most of all,
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they will make you think about life and friendship.

Lenni is a long term patient at a hospital in Glasgow. She is at the end of her short life of 17 years. She's quirky and brave and outspoken. She wants to do as much living as she can during her final days. When a new art program is started at the hospital, she asks to be in the group of elderly patients and she immediately bonds with Margo. Margo is 83 and in the hospital to have an operation on her heart. Lenni decides and Margo quickly agrees that their combined age is 100 and that they should do 100 paintings that depict things the happened in their lives. Through Lenni's paintings we learn about her childhood, her absent mother and her father who couldn't bear to be near her as she was dying. Through Margo's paintings we find out about her early marriage, her long-term friendship and her love of the stars that she learned from her last husband.
As they share their stories, their friendship with each other grows until they totally depend on each other. They become more of a family than either of them have ever had and as Lenni's life if dwindling away, Margot is the person that she depends on most.

Yes, it's sad to read a book about someone dying who hasn't really had a chance to live but this book is so much more. It's about love and friendship, grief and joy, death and spiritual awakening. You will probably shed some tears when you read this book but at the end you'll remember Lenni and Margot for the way they lived their lives and the wonderful friendship that they shared.
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LibraryThing member Twink
Although my favorite genres are mysteries and suspense, I like to take a break and mix things up with something different.
I loved the colors, flowers and stars on the cover of Marianne Cronin's debut novel, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot.

Seventeen year old Lenni and eighty three year old
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Margot are both living on borrowed time. Lenni is on the terminal ward and Margot is in for heart surgery at a Scottish hospital. Their paths cross in an arts and crafts class at the hospital and despite their difference in age, they hit it off.

I liked the story telling method that Cronin chose for her novel. Lenni and Margot decide to share their lives, told in stories and paintings - all in a run up to their 'one hundredth birthday' - a combination of their ages. The point of view is back and forth between the two, both past and present.

Lenni is the first character we meet and I have to say that after the first few chapters, I wasn't quite sure that I would enjoy this book. I found Lenni's actions, inner dialogue and outward questions to be that of a much younger person. She makes friends with the hospital pastor (who was a great, kind patient character) and asks questions such as 'why can't he wear his dress (vestments) to garden in'. I'm not sure if Cronin was aiming for precocious, but I found her to be a bit annoying. And I felt bad about it, as we know she is dying. My opinion did warm up as the book progressed and we come to know her past, her hopes and fears more intimately.

But.....I have to say that I loved Margot! Perhaps because I am closer in age to her and can relate easier to her. Her life story is fascinating as we watch her grow, change and embrace what life throws at her. That's not to say there isn't heartbreak in her life, but she seems to makes it a part of herself and moves on. I couldn't wait for her next chapter.

There are a number of 'good' characters that are positive and populate Lenni's world, but there's also a'Nurse Ratched'. I had a difficult time believing this awful character's actions and attitude.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot gives us two different perspectives on life. One barely begun and one reaching towards the end. Each has heart warming and heart breaking bits. Cronin's tale will leave you wondering what your own story might be.....

I chose to listen to The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot. I often feel closer to and more engaged with a book when I listen. The readers were Sheila Reid and Rebecca Benson. I thought I recognized Reid's voice from a television show as I listened and was proven right once I went looking. She's got a lovely gravelly tone to her voice that connotes an older character, along with a Scottish accent. She's got a measured pace of speaking that added to the mental image I had created for Margot. She easily makes the character come alive, interpreting and presenting Cronin's work well. The voice that Benson provided for Lenni sounds young and suits the character. Her voice is clear and easy to understand. What I wasn't as keen on on was the speed of her narrating and the longish pauses. She also did the voice for Father Arthur and it felt warm, suiting the character.

Film rights have already been sold.
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LibraryThing member cdyankeefan
I absolutely loved this. Lenni and Margot, both terminally ill, become friends while participating in art class. They decide to undertake a project: creating 100 paintings dealing with the most important events in their lives.. Lenni also seeks out hospital chaplain Father Arthur to get answers as
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to why she’s dying. This is written so beautifully with humor and tears. There’s so much to love about this- other hospital patients, New Nurse and Paul the Porter. While reading about a terminally ill teenager doesn’t sound like a great read this really is and will give you all the feels
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LibraryThing member shazjhb
Delightful and sad book. Well written and interesting people. Lovely book to listen to.
LibraryThing member SallyElizabethMurphy
I had high hopes for this book, and although I enjoyed the novel, I felt disappointed.
LibraryThing member rmarcin
I absolutely loved this book! I didn't know what to expect going in, I had seen it on a recommended title list. I am so glad that I picked up this charming and heartwarming novel.
It begins in a hospital with Lenni, a 17-year old terminally ill patient. Lenni has chats with Father Arthur, the
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Catholic priest who will be retiring soon. She also meets Margot, an 83-year old woman she saw reaching into the trash one day. Margot and Lenni get to know each other through an art class where they each tell the other about their life.
Such a beautiful book!
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LibraryThing member moosenoose
“You’re not dying. You’re living.”

“Living and dying are both complete mysteries, and you can’t know either until you have done both.”

I was initially disappointed with this story as I didn’t click with Lenni and thought I’d struggle to continue. I found her to be rather immature
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and precocious, but then I can’t imagine how 17 year old me would have reacted to the world if I were dying. Her interactions with Father Arthur were equally funny and frustrating, which helped her to grow on me.

Margot however was just my type of woman. She was clever, funny and a force to be reckoned with. Everything I aim to be at 83! I often pictured her as Lily Tomlin from Grace & Frankie, the type of women who knows that life is too short to hold-back and hide.

Whilst the ending is all too obvious from the bio, this isn’t a story purely about death and loss. It also has lots of love, friendship, laughter and life. I just hope that when my time comes I am able to look back with such perspective and know that I lived the life that I was meant to live.
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LibraryThing member nicx27
Sometimes along comes a book that is absolutely perfect in every way. The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is that book for me. Not a word is wasted or out of place, and there was never, not for one second, a moment when I wanted to skip a bit or thought a section didn't work. It really is
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just perfect.

Lenni is 17, Margot is 83. Between them they have 100 years of memories. They meet in hospital where Lenni is on the May Ward (everybody knows that is not a good place to be) and Margot is on a neighbouring ward. An unusual meeting becomes an unlikely, yet beautiful, friendship and after joining the hospital's art therapy class they decide to paint a picture for every year of their lives.

What this leads to is the sharing of their personal stories, with each other and with the reader. Inevitably Margot has the most stories to tell but Lenni also has her fair share. Some stories are uplifting, some are heartbreaking, but each helps to build up the overall picture. I thought the author did some very clever weaving, bringing some strands full circle in ways I didn't expect, and her expert storytelling made each one completely breath-taking.

The two main characters are simply stunning creations. I started the book laughing out loud at Lenni's dry humour, particular with the hospital priest, Father Arthur, and ended it crying. But for all that it's Lenni's and Margot's stories that are the focus, each and every supporting character has their place, and is just as much a part of what makes this such an amazing read. This is exactly my kind of book, character led with dips into the past drip-feeding the story to me.

Why is it that the books that I love the most are the hardest to write about? Is it because I know that nothing I say can ever do them justice? I simply cannot put into words how much I loved this book and what an impact it made on me. It's a wonderful story of lives lived, however long they might be, and shows how everything that you experience, good or bad, makes you who you are. It is a tender exploration of friendship and love in all their different forms, beautifully written by Marianne Cronin, with characters who will stay with me. It really doesn't get any better than this.
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LibraryThing member chasidar
My second favorite genre: sick/dying teens. I really enjoyed this book.
LibraryThing member LivelyLady
Two hospice patients, 17 years old and 83 years old decide to paint 100 paintings telling their story as they do.
LibraryThing member untitled841
A beautiful story about friendship in the face of uncertainty on a hospital ward.
LibraryThing member techeditor
Maybe you shouldn't take my word for it; most of the members of my book club liked this book. But I prefer books that grab my attention, and THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT didn't.

I can say this for the book: it is cute. But that isn't enough to grab me.
LibraryThing member srms.reads
“Somewhere, out in the world, are the people who touched us, or loved us, or ran from us. In that way we will live on. If you go to the places we have been, you might meet someone who passed us once in a corridor but forgot us before we were even gone. We are in the back of hundreds of people’s
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photographs—moving, talking, blurring into the background of a picture two strangers have framed on their living room mantelpiece. And in that way, we will live on too. But it isn’t enough. It isn’t enough to have been a particle in the great extant of existence. I want, we want, more. We want for people to know us, to know our story, to know who we are and who we will be. And after we’ve gone, to know who we were.”

At the onset we are introduced to seventeen year old Lenni Pettersson, a terminally ill patient in the May Ward of Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. She is smart, spirited and curious inspite of her “life-limiting” illness and takes every opportunity to engage with people around her including the nurses who are in charge of her care, fellow patients and the hospital chaplain Father Arthur who is often rendered speechless in the face of Lenni’s questions on faith and life. Eighty three year old Margot Macrae is a patient with a heart condition in the same hospital recovering from major surgery. She and Lenni become friends in an art class taught by the kind and friendly Pippa organized in the Rose room of the hospital. Realizing that they have lived for one hundred years between themselves they decide to share those one hundred years of life experiences through art and stories. As they share their stories while creating art that would represent those stories, we get know intimate details of Margot’s and Lenni’s lives. Margot has lived an eventful life and her narrative is laced with wit and wisdom and a touch of regret. With her, Lenni gets to experience much more than she could have expected in her seventeen years. Lenni, a straight shooter and not one to mince words, motivates Margot to look beyond whatever is holding her back to enjoy her remaining life to the fullest. Lenni’s mother abandoned her years ago and her father’s palpable grief at Lenni’s prognosis prompted her to limit his painful visits. Her friendship with Margot and interactions with Father Arthur, New Nurse , Pippa, Paul , Sunny and even the not so likeable Nurse Jacky fill her days and give her a sense of ‘family’ in her final days.

While there are moments of extreme sorrow , loss and grief, the beautiful moments of camaraderie and friendship will have you smiling through your tears. With a wonderful cast of characters , thought provoking dialogue and an engaging narrative, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin is a moving and emotional story that will stay with me for a long time. The author’s skillful storytelling turns what could have been a morbid tale of imminent death into a heart touching celebration of life with wit, wisdom and humor.

“We can’t know why you are dying in the same way that we can’t know why you are living. Living and dying are both complete mysteries, and you can’t know either until you have done both.”
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LibraryThing member quirkylibrarian
Sweet and disarming while never tilting over into preachy or saccharine, though a bit contrived in spots to fit the Swedish birthday song, but that was minimal. I’d give this to fans of Elizabeth Berg, Fannie Flagg, Kent Haruf and recommend for book clubs. Delightful .
LibraryThing member silva_44
*Contains a few spoilers

At first, I loved the Maeve Binchey-like quality of this story, told from the first-person perspectives of two main characters. Lenni and Margot are extremely likeable, and the plot certainly held my interest. I even felt empathy for Margot when she lost her son, because I
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too lost a son as an infant. However, I did not appreciate the religious opinions expressed by the author, nor her inclusion of a homosexual element. Margot's character also irked me because it seemed as though she fell in love with anyone who showed even remote interest in her or was convenient at the time. Mina was no good for her, homosexuality aside. She was selfish and completely self-absorbed. I could never understand what Margot saw in her, as a friend or anything else. I also disliked the way in which the author portrayed nuclear families as being undesirable, and that on their deathbeds, Lenni and Humphrey expressed a wish to die alone with strangers rather than family. It's just another attempt to tear down the nuclear family and replace it with a surrogate family of one's own choosing. Quite tragic, really. So while the book had a lot of feel-good elements, I felt that the author's main purpose was to emotionally manipulate her audience and convince them to reject traditional religious and family values.
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LibraryThing member ZeljanaMaricFerli
I wasn't planning on reading this as I had my share of novels dealing with a terminal disease and death. I just read a few pages and was struck by the lightness of it, sense of humour and some beautiful language.
However, this wore off quickly.

In theory, books like this are beautiful, they talk
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about the beauty of life, friendship (found in the most unexpected places). Some passages were truly a joy to read. However, the book was very uneven in terms of quality.

There were big parts of the novel describing Margot's life in some obscure moments that didn't really add much to the story, while I would have loved to see more conversations between Leni and Margot to add some depth to their relationship. Also, Lenni felt more like a younger child, not a 17-year-old.

The art project got tedious after a while and I lost interest. Pushed through to finish, but it wasn't that great. I think the parts that really stuck with me are the ones describing dealing with PTSD (Margot's dad) and Alzheimer's (Humphrey) that were described in a touching way.
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LibraryThing member KimD66
5 Stars for The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin.

Move over Owen Meany! After 32 years on top, you've been delegated to #2. Lenni & Margot have stolen my heart!!.

After struggling to give a "real" review, I've decided I can't give this masterpiece anywhere near the justice it
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deserves! Honestly.

One moment I'm laughing, then sobbing; I'm thrilled, then devastated - sometimes on the same page!! Every chapter led me through deeper layers of emotions.

Bravo, #mariannecronin, Bravo.
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LibraryThing member electrascaife
Lenni is 17 and a patient in the terminal ward of a Glasgow hospital. Margot is 83 and a patient in the same hospital, awaiting heart surgery. This is the story of their friendship and of how they ended up sharing their collective 100 years with each other.

An excellent story (or pair of stories,
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really), beautifully told. Both Lenni and Margot are fascinating and wonderful characters, and they’re so well drawn that you quickly feel that they’re your friends as well, which makes losing them all the tougher. I haven’t full-on wept because of a book in a long time, but I cried for this one and I don’t regret a second of it.
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Awards

Alex Award (2022)
LibraryReads (Monthly Pick — June 2021)

ISBN

0063017504 / 9780063017504
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