the One Hundred years of Lenni and Margot - Marianne Cronin

 

Description

An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories. Their last one begins here.

Life is short - no one knows that better than seventeen year-old Lenni Petterssen. On the Terminal Ward, the nurses are offering their condolences already, but Lenni still has plenty of living to do.

When she meets 83-year-old Margot Macrae, a fellow patient offering new friendship and enviable artistic skills, Lenni's life begins to soar in ways she'd never imagined.

As their bond deepens, a world of stories opens up: of wartime love and loss, of misunderstanding and reconciliation, of courage, kindness and joy.

Stories that have led Lenni and Margot to the end of their days.

The One Hundred Years is a celebration of life, hope and kindness. The perfect read to shine a light on dark days.

Review

You might think a novel set on a hospital terminal ward would be a little depressing - but this book is far from that. It's a brilliant uplifting tale with laugh out loud moments.

The 100 years comes from the ages of Lenni 17 and the friend she makes in hospital called Margot who is 83 years old. They attend an art class in the hospital and decide to paint a picture for each of their years. Through the book we get to read about moments from their lives as they paint.

One of the things I liked most about this novel is Lenni. She is a wonderful character who despite having a terminal illness has a wicked sense of humour and is always ready to speak her mind. She does this the most with the priest at the hospital chapel, she certainly challenges him on one or two points.

There was one part near to the end of the book that had me in floods of tears, it didn't involve death but the scene was so realistically written. The whole book I found has a real honesty to the writing.

Unlike anything I have read before I am giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. The book is out on 18 February 2021.