Description: 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.
Fiercely alive, disarmingly funny and brimming with tenderness, THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT unwraps the extraordinary gift of life even when it is about to be taken away, and revels in our infinite capacity for friendship and love when we need them most.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-one-hundred-years-of-lenni-and-margot/marianne-cronin/9780857527196
Why We Like It
Marianne says that this book took over six years to write, and it is easy to understand why. The attention to detail is not only meticulous but very clever, nothing is left unconnected. Throughout the book, there are little stories, wrapped up like precious jewels waiting to be discovered, as Marianne exquisitely blends the lives of Lenni and Margot together. Thoughtful, full of hope, gentle humour and poignancy, this is such a special book, it will stay with you long after you have finished reading it.
An outstanding debut novel! Destined to be one of our Favourite Fiction Reads of 2021. Highly Recommended!