The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: The new and unforgettable Richard & Judy Book Club pick

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The chapters alternate between the two women. Most cover a slice or slices of one of their lives from the past, each of which is inspiration for a painting. Other chapters take place in present time. For reasons you will find out, neither Lenni nor Margot has a close family member nearby. They just have each other. Then there are New Nurse, Father Arthur, Pippa the art facilitator, and Paul the Porter. All these people eventually become a part of the makeshift family as well.

Lenni is seventeen, terminally ill, motherless, and although her father visits her, albeit infrequently, his visits just make it harder on her. He’s miserable when he visits, watching her and knowing there is nothing he can do to prevent her from dying, and she isn’t up to the burden of cheering him up, so she tells him not to visit again. Captivated by Margot’s long and storied life, Lenni concocts a creative scheme. They will make paintings of pivotal moments from their lives, one for each of their combined 100 years, as a way to chronicle their stories and transport themselves away from the reality of hospital beds and surgeries. As they paint, their creative body of work begins to surprise them, as well as their fellow artist patients and excited art teacher, Pippa. With the encouragement of hospital chaplain Father Arthur and a favorite nurse, Lenni and Margot press on through memories both painful and breathtaking. Fiercely alive, disarmingly funny and brimming with tenderness, THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT unwraps the extraordinary gift of life, and revels in our infinite capacity for friendship and love when we need them most.Margot had fallen in love with a star-gazer who was fond of quoting poetry to her, particularly “The Old Astronomer to His Pupil” by Sarah Williams that ends with this wonderful stanza.

Reverend Author said he was better with ‘what’, ‘who’ , and ‘how’ questions, more than ‘why’ questions. This whole story takes place in a hospital. The stories inside this story are from Lenni and Margot's pasts. They are of course outside of the hospital. They each tell things that happened throughout their lives then drew or painted a picture of that time. Some of this book is truly so touching and at the same time so sad. Actually most of it is. There are great parts where you do feel the air. See the stars. Feel the love. Other parts are just tear worthy. You will feel the pain and loss. The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is a lovely novel and really helps us look at our lives from the outside in. I thought of what my own 42 paintings would look like, and what I want my remaining paintings to be. A beautiful friendship if formed between 17 year old Lenni and 83 year old Margot during their hospital stay. They celebrate each other and their life experiences in this wonderful story of life, memories, friendship and love.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. An emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person whole? Graceful, intelligent, beautiful writing. Full of wisdom and kindness. It is just the kind of book I adore.” -Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep No,' she said gently, linking her arm through mine, 'it's not depressing, it's beautiful. They've been gone for who knows how long, but we can still see them. They live on.'

What I mean is, you’re not dying right now. In fact, right now you’re living.’ Margot and I both watched her try to explain. ‘Your heart is beating and your eyes are seeing and your ears are hearing. You’re sitting in this room completely alive. And so you’re not dying. You’re living.” This story is so full of life and a lot of the story relates to Margot's journey, a story of a beloved father devastated by war, a young marriage torn apart by the heartache of loss, an unrequited love, another deep and shared love of 30 years, and more. Through Margot's pictures and stories, Lenni is able to live a life she will never have but she also allows Margot to reflect on what has passed and what she wants to do, if she survives her next surgery. Lenni is only seventeen and has a terminal illness. Do not be fooled into thinking she's going to be ok. She's not. But her story is one that will worm it's way into your heart and squeeze tightly. It will leave you breathing so hard and weeping so bad. She's such a determined young girl and a bit ornery too. But in a good way. She has so much life it is hard to believe she is dying. Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love. Set in the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital, Marianne Cronin's debut novel is sprinkled with magic and star dust as it relates the intergenerational friendship and love that develops between the vibrant, full of life, Swedish born, 17 year old Lenni Pettersson and 83 year old Margot Macrae. Lenni is a resident of the May ward, for those with life limiting/terminal illnesses, she goes searching for answers for fundamental philosophical questions of life from Father Arthur, her candour a joy to behold and have a host of characters enter her life, providing her with a family she could hardly have forseen. Whilst her life is to be cruelly cut short at such a young age, she is to metaphorically live a longer one through the experience of the joys, love, losses, and grief of Margot's well lived life, who is in hospital for heart surgery.

Nothing about The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot worked for me. The premise sounds incredible: Lenni and Margot have a combined age of 100 years. They will each paint one picture for every year that they have been alive. If you were going to paint memories from all the years of your life – which moment or memory would you paint first? Thank you to #netgally, #mariannecronin, #harpercollinspublishers for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.