When seventeen-year-old Lenni learns that her illness is terminal she's struggling to come to terms with "Why me?". Exploring the hospital which has become her world she discovers the art room and meets another "inmate", elderly Margot. The pair form an immediate bond and share the stories of their lives.
I was immensely privileged earlier this year to review Eddie Winston Is Looking For Love by Marianne Cronin and fell in love with the wonderful character of Eddie. Obviously, I had to know if the author had written any other novels, hence me finding The One Hundred Years Of Lenni And Margot, a book that hadn't registered on my radar when it was first published in 2021.
This inter-generational story is filled with warmth, empathy, humour and sadness. From the very beginning, you know what the outcome of the story will be, but the journey there is full of surprises.
We meet Lenni at the start of the book and learn that she is terminally ill. In many ways Lenni is a typical teen, refusing to follow rules, pushing boundaries and constantly questioning authority. Wandering the hospital corridors she stumbles across the chapel and Father Arthur. This meeting gives Lenni the opportunity to question the greatest authority of all, God. The relationship Lenni forms with Arthur is one of the mainstays of the story. While Arthur is unable to give Lenni the answers she seeks he doesn't patronise her.
From her questioning it is obvious that Lenni is not only highly intelligent but she's also an "old soul", this is confirmed when she forms a friendship with Margot. Their first fleeting meeting is almost a reversal of roles with Lenni covering for Margot who is almost clambering into a wheelie bin. The friendship is cemented when Lenni is adamant that she wants to join the art group full of elderly patients, rather than the one for her age group.
Together the pair embark on an art project, creating one hundred pictures commemorating events in their combined one hundred-year lifespan. While producing the artwork the pair share the background to each picture, giving the reader a glimpse into two very different lives. We discover that both women have had to contend with heartbreak and abandonment; but it is these adversities that have formed their characters, refusing to be broken by circumstances.
Marianne Cronin tugs at the heartstrings as the conclusion approaches. I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, wishing for a miracle. Thankfully, the author doesn't sugarcoat the ending, giving the reader a realistic, yet bittersweet, ending.
Author Details
Marianne Cronin was born in 1990 and grew up in Warwickshire. After gaining her PhD in applied linguistics, she worked in academia until becoming a writer. Her first novel, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, published by Doubleday in 2021, was voted 'most uplifting book of 2021' by The Independent and shortlisted for a Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. She lives in the Midlands with her family and her cat.
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