The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot - Marianne Cronin

[goodreads]

Title: The One Hundred Years of Lenni & Margot
Author: Marianne Cronin
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 400
Date read: October, 2022

Life is short. No-one knows that better than seventeen-year-old Lenni living on the terminal ward. But as she is about to learn, it's not only what you make of life that matters, but who you share it with.

Dodging doctor's orders, she joins an art class where she bumps into fellow patient Margot, a rebel-hearted eight-three-year-old from the next ward. Their bond is instant as they realize that together they have lived an astonishing one hundred years.

To celebrate their shared century, they decide to paint their life stories: of growing old and staying young, of giving joy, of receiving kindness, of losing love, of finding the person who is everything.

As their extraordinary friendship deepens, it becomes vividly clear that life is not done with Lenni and Margot yet.


I'm having a hard time deciding what I think of this book. It was charming, it was dull, it was sad, it was life-affirming. It put me in a blue funk when I finished it, and I had to pick up a comfort book to snap out of it.

Ultimately I don't regret having read it. At about the half-way point, I started asking myself if I really wanted to spend time finishing this, as I found it slightly dull... but it was too charming for me to actually want to put down, and I finished the last half in just a few days. But at the same time I doubt it's a book I'm ever going to reread, and I did feel slightly let down by it, as it came so highly recommended, and I don't feel it deserved the hype.

I liked Lenni and Margot and Father Arthur, and love seeing their friendships grow and the relationships that developed between them.