Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: A Novel
    Ebook385 pages6 hours

    The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: A Novel

    By Marianne Cronin

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    “A beautiful debut, funny, tender, and animated by a willingness to confront life’s obstacles and find a way to survive. . . . It celebrates friendship, finds meaning in difficulty and lets the reader explore dark places while always allowing for the possibility of light. Lenni and Margot are fine companions for all our springtime journeys.”—Harper’s Bazaar, UK 

    A charming, fiercely alive and disarmingly funny debut novel in the vein of John Green, Rachel Joyce, and Jojo Moyes—a brave testament to the power of living each day to the fullest, a tribute to the stories that we live, and a reminder of our unlimited capacity for friendship and love.

    An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories. 

    Seventeen-year-old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined.

    As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens for these unlikely companions who, between them, have been alive for one hundred years. Though their days are dwindling, both are determined to leave their mark on the world. With the help of Lenni’s doting palliative care nurse and Father Arthur, the hospital’s patient chaplain, Lenni and Margot devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived—stories of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of unexpected tenderness and pure joy.

    Though the end is near, life isn’t quite done with these unforgettable women just yet.

    Delightfully funny and bittersweet, heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot reminds us of the preciousness of life as it considers the legacy we choose to leave, how we influence the lives of others even after we’re gone, and the wonder of a friendship that transcends time.

    From the beautiful cover to the heart-warming story, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is a book that will touch your soul and make you appreciate the beauty of life. This literary fiction novel is one of the best books of all time, and it's perfect for anyone who loves novels about love, grief, and friendship.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 1, 2021
    ISBN9780063017511
    Author

    Marianne Cronin

    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 Harper Perennial in 2021, was shortlisted for a Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction, and received the American Library Association Alex Award. She lives in the Midlands with her family and her cat.

    Related to The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

    Related ebooks

    Contemporary Women's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      'The Heart's Invisible Furies' Is the Funny, Touching Story of an Irish Everyman

      Sep 1, 2017

      Boyne's new novel follows its protagonist throughout the decades, from birth in 1945 to age 70, and the story encompasses a great deal of history.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Mar 23, 2022

      Great Read
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Moment That Made Me Slim

      Jan 11, 2022

      As I reached for a carton of milk, I caught sight of a little girl looking at me. ‘Mummy, look how fat that lady is,’ she said loudly, pointing in my direction. I saw the girl’s mother gasp, her cheeks red with embarrassment as she hurriedly shuffled

      4 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Mar 23, 2022

      Great Read
      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Jul 29, 2020

      Book Club
      1 min read

    • Article

      February’s BOOK CLUB

      Jan 5, 2023

      River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (£18.99, HB, Headline) It’s Barbados 1834 and slavery has been abolished, but former slaves must work for another six years – for free! In an act of resistance, Rachel heads off through the Caribbean and South A

      4 min read

    • Article

      Crimes of the Heart

      Nov 5, 2016

      Like many of his novels, Spanish author Javier Marías’ new book, Thus Bad Begins, isn’t exactly a mystery, though it is mysterious. Here, the 65-year-old perennial Nobel favorite tells the story of Juan de Vere, a young man working for a film directo

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Millions Top Ten: September 2017

      Oct 16, 2017

      This month marks the entrée of two newcomers. The post The Millions Top Ten: September 2017 appeared first on The Millions.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Jennifer Weiner

      Sep 24, 2016

      The best-selling novelist talks about her family, her difficult childhood and her recent Oprah’s Book Club controversy

      2 min read

    • Article

      The 10 Best Novels

      Dec 19, 2016

      The 10 Best Novels
      3 min read

    • Article

      Transition And Renewal: The 10 Best Books Of August

      Aug 28, 2023

      1 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride In Chicken Hill, the Black and Jewish neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where immigrants and longtime residents strive and struggle, Chona Ludlow runs the local grocery with a fearless, open

      2 min read

    • Article

      ‘The Guncle’ Proves That Families Come In All Different Shapes

      May 24, 2021

      Following their mother’s death, two children spend the summer with “Gay Uncle Patrick” in this heartfelt and entertaining novel by Steven Rowley.

      3 min read

    • Article

      'Wellness' Is A Perfect Novel For Our Age, Its Profound Sadness Tempered With Humor

      Sep 20, 2023

      Nathan Hill's stunning new novel about the stories we tell about our lives and our loves, and how we sustain relationships throughout time, is both funny and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page.

      3 min read

    • Article

      I, Von Economo

      Oct 10, 2022

      I’d never seen a Bentley Mulsanne in the flesh, not even in the chop shops where I sold the luxury cars I boosted. Yet there it was, parked behind an inner-city soup kitchen with its signature hood ornament of silver wings stretched wide to the heave

      12 min read

    • Article

      The Bathroom

      Jun 10, 2024

      Content Disclosure: Sexual Innuendo The garage light flips on like a flashbulb, freezing me in a mug shot. “Del, you out here?” my wife says sleepily as she steps down the cement riser. She looks at me standing before the window; then her attention i

      12 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

    4/5

    215 ratings16 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Delightful and sad book. Well written and interesting people. Lovely book to listen to.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this. Lenni and Margot, both terminally ill, become friends while participating in art class. They decide to undertake a project: creating 100 paintings dealing with the most important events in their lives.. Lenni also seeks out hospital chaplain Father Arthur to get answers as to why she’s dying. This is written so beautifully with humor and tears. There’s so much to love about this- other hospital patients, New Nurse and Paul the Porter. While reading about a terminally ill teenager doesn’t sound like a great read this really is and will give you all the feels
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book! I didn't know what to expect going in, I had seen it on a recommended title list. I am so glad that I picked up this charming and heartwarming novel.It begins in a hospital with Lenni, a 17-year old terminally ill patient. Lenni has chats with Father Arthur, the Catholic priest who will be retiring soon. She also meets Margot, an 83-year old woman she saw reaching into the trash one day. Margot and Lenni get to know each other through an art class where they each tell the other about their life.Such a beautiful book!
    • 5/5
      What a beautiful, sad and thought-provoking story — a skillfully spun tale laced with humor and wisdom. Based on the book summaries I read, I wasn’t sure this would “click” with me. I truly loved Cronin’s work and pleased to assign it a rare 5-star rating (although this distinction is getting a bit less rare within the past couple years. I’m not sure if I’m becoming too “easy” as I age, or if I’m getting more skilled at selecting books.) Put simply, “The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot” was a delightful read.
    • 4/5
      3.5 starsLenni is 17-years old and in a terminal ward in a hospital. She doesn’t seem to have many friends (and her family doesn’t visit), but she wanders into the hospital chapel one day and becomes good friends with the minister there (despite not being the least bit religious), Father Arthur. In addition, once there are art classes offered, Lenni meets 83-year old Margot and becomes good friends with her, too. Together they decide to create 100 works of art between them for the collective 100 years they have lived. We go back in time in both their lives to discover how they ended up where they are.I listened to the audio book and it was good. There were two different narrators for each of Lenni and Margot. I wouldn’t say one was better than the other. In all honesty, although I (mostly) enjoyed both their life-stories, I did also lose track every so often, for both of them. I really enjoyed the humourous moments in the book. Overall, it was good, though I didn’t cry like I thought I would at the end.
    • 3/5
      Two hospice patients, 17 years old and 83 years old decide to paint 100 paintings telling their story as they do.
    • 5/5
      5 Stars for The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin.Move over Owen Meany! After 32 years on top, you've been delegated to #2. Lenni & Margot have stolen my heart!!.After struggling to give a "real" review, I've decided I can't give this masterpiece anywhere near the justice it deserves! Honestly. One moment I'm laughing, then sobbing; I'm thrilled, then devastated - sometimes on the same page!! Every chapter led me through deeper layers of emotions. Bravo, #mariannecronin, Bravo.
    • 3/5
      I had high hopes for this book, and although I enjoyed the novel, I felt disappointed.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Lenni is 17 and a patient in the terminal ward of a Glasgow hospital. Margot is 83 and a patient in the same hospital, awaiting heart surgery. This is the story of their friendship and of how they ended up sharing their collective 100 years with each other.An excellent story (or pair of stories, really), beautifully told. Both Lenni and Margot are fascinating and wonderful characters, and they’re so well drawn that you quickly feel that they’re your friends as well, which makes losing them all the tougher. I haven’t full-on wept because of a book in a long time, but I cried for this one and I don’t regret a second of it.
    • 3/5
      I wasn't planning on reading this as I had my share of novels dealing with a terminal disease and death. I just read a few pages and was struck by the lightness of it, sense of humour and some beautiful language.
      However, this wore off quickly.

      In theory, books like this are beautiful, they talk about the beauty of life, friendship (found in the most unexpected places). Some passages were truly a joy to read. However, the book was very uneven in terms of quality.

      There were big parts of the novel describing Margot's life in some obscure moments that didn't really add much to the story, while I would have loved to see more conversations between Leni and Margot to add some depth to their relationship. Also, Lenni felt more like a younger child, not a 17-year-old.

      The art project got tedious after a while and I lost interest. Pushed through to finish, but it wasn't that great. I think the parts that really stuck with me are the ones describing dealing with PTSD (Margot's dad) and Alzheimer's (Humphrey) that were described in a touching way.
    • 5/5
      A beautiful story about friendship in the face of uncertainty on a hospital ward.
    • 2/5
      *Contains a few spoilersAt first, I loved the Maeve Binchey-like quality of this story, told from the first-person perspectives of two main characters. Lenni and Margot are extremely likeable, and the plot certainly held my interest. I even felt empathy for Margot when she lost her son, because I too lost a son as an infant. However, I did not appreciate the religious opinions expressed by the author, nor her inclusion of a homosexual element. Margot's character also irked me because it seemed as though she fell in love with anyone who showed even remote interest in her or was convenient at the time. Mina was no good for her, homosexuality aside. She was selfish and completely self-absorbed. I could never understand what Margot saw in her, as a friend or anything else. I also disliked the way in which the author portrayed nuclear families as being undesirable, and that on their deathbeds, Lenni and Humphrey expressed a wish to die alone with strangers rather than family. It's just another attempt to tear down the nuclear family and replace it with a surrogate family of one's own choosing. Quite tragic, really. So while the book had a lot of feel-good elements, I felt that the author's main purpose was to emotionally manipulate her audience and convince them to reject traditional religious and family values.
    • 5/5
      Sweet and disarming while never tilting over into preachy or saccharine, though a bit contrived in spots to fit the Swedish birthday song, but that was minimal. I’d give this to fans of Elizabeth Berg, Fannie Flagg, Kent Haruf and recommend for book clubs. Delightful .
    • 2/5
      Lenin and Margot connect in the terminal ward in a hospital. They bond and realize that between them, they are 100 years old. Readers learn of their backstories through a series of flashbacks told by both the main characters. It’s no surprise how the story ends. Unhappiness is the theme of this book, and follows the characters like their shadows. While the novel gets high praise from many readers, I have to say I didn’t care for the writing style. And I must add that I took exception to the pointed misleading use of the Bible verse at the end of the story. Not my cup of tea.
    • 5/5
      “Somewhere, out in the world, are the people who touched us, or loved us, or ran from us. In that way we will live on. If you go to the places we have been, you might meet someone who passed us once in a corridor but forgot us before we were even gone. We are in the back of hundreds of people’s photographs—moving, talking, blurring into the background of a picture two strangers have framed on their living room mantelpiece. And in that way, we will live on too. But it isn’t enough. It isn’t enough to have been a particle in the great extant of existence. I want, we want, more. We want for people to know us, to know our story, to know who we are and who we will be. And after we’ve gone, to know who we were.”

      At the onset we are introduced to seventeen year old Lenni Pettersson, a terminally ill patient in the May Ward of Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. She is smart, spirited and curious inspite of her “life-limiting” illness and takes every opportunity to engage with people around her including the nurses who are in charge of her care, fellow patients and the hospital chaplain Father Arthur who is often rendered speechless in the face of Lenni’s questions on faith and life. Eighty three year old Margot Macrae is a patient with a heart condition in the same hospital recovering from major surgery. She and Lenni become friends in an art class taught by the kind and friendly Pippa organized in the Rose room of the hospital. Realizing that they have lived for one hundred years between themselves they decide to share those one hundred years of life experiences through art and stories. As they share their stories while creating art that would represent those stories, we get know intimate details of Margot’s and Lenni’s lives. Margot has lived an eventful life and her narrative is laced with wit and wisdom and a touch of regret. With her, Lenni gets to experience much more than she could have expected in her seventeen years. Lenni, a straight shooter and not one to mince words, motivates Margot to look beyond whatever is holding her back to enjoy her remaining life to the fullest. Lenni’s mother abandoned her years ago and her father’s palpable grief at Lenni’s prognosis prompted her to limit his painful visits. Her friendship with Margot and interactions with Father Arthur, New Nurse , Pippa, Paul , Sunny and even the not so likeable Nurse Jacky fill her days and give her a sense of ‘family’ in her final days.

      While there are moments of extreme sorrow , loss and grief, the beautiful moments of camaraderie and friendship will have you smiling through your tears. With a wonderful cast of characters , thought provoking dialogue and an engaging narrative, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin is a moving and emotional story that will stay with me for a long time. The author’s skillful storytelling turns what could have been a morbid tale of imminent death into a heart touching celebration of life with wit, wisdom and humor.

      “We can’t know why you are dying in the same way that we can’t know why you are living. Living and dying are both complete mysteries, and you can’t know either until you have done both.”
    • 2/5
      Maybe you shouldn't take my word for it; most of the members of my book club liked this book. But I prefer books that grab my attention, and THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT didn't.I can say this for the book: it is cute. But that isn't enough to grab me.