My book review of 'The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot' by Marianne Cronin

by Marianne Cronin

This tugs at the heart strings from the outset. A young woman has a terminal illness and is waiting out her time in hospital. An elderly woman is looking at the end of her life regretting a lost love. They meet in a hospital art therapy room and an unlikely friendship blossoms.

Lenni is 17 and Margot is 83. Their combined age makes one hundred, a significant number to celebrate so they decide to produce 100 paintings to be displayed in the room, each one with a story from their lives.

It's beautifully done. All the characters are charming, and the relationship between Lenni and the hospital chaplain is wonderful.

I enjoyed it but I felt a bit raw and exposed reading it at this time, with so much death and illness all around us. However, it's a reminder that this is a subject not to be shunned, and we should all be encouraged to be prepared for the end of our lives. I look forward to reading it again sometime.

Date of this review: January 2021
Book publication date: 18th February 2021