The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot {A MUST READ!}

I’ve been wondering lately if I am too picky with books. Why can’t I find my next 5 star read? Can I not read properly or recognise a good book anymore???? Well I can safely say that when you find your 5 star, you’ll know! It’s not the kind of thing you should be searching for. Within the first chapter….it will reveal itself! In today’s review, I’ve found it…. The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot honestly felt like a breath of fresh air….something so unexpected, that just spoke to my soul!

Okay, let me get into the review before I do the whole review here in the introduction!

‘Between us,’ I said quietly, ‘we’re a hundred years old’.

What is The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot about?

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.

My Review

Characters and Story line

You know by now, I’m all about thrillers….so to read a book about a friendship between a teenage girl and an old woman hardly seemed like something I was going to prioritise. I don’t know what compelled me to pick this book up, but I was so glad that I did.

Lenni is dying and Margot has a dangerous heart condition….. and that’s how they meet, within the walls of a hospital.  Lenni is sharp as a whip and one of the most interesting characters I have ever read about. Her outlook on life, her enquiring mind and her wittiness truly touched and entertained me.

Margot has lived a long life….one filled with loss, love and….. chickens! She is also interesting in her own way and she’s exactly what Lenni needs in this phase of her life.

There’s also Father Arthur (bless him), New Nurse, Humphrey, Meena and The Temp….all interesting characters who really added something to this story.

The book is told from Lenni’s POV mostly, and then their (Lenni or Margot’s) stories are told within the chapters. I also loved the chapter titles….they all related to what the chapter would be about. I don’t know if there were 20 chapters or 40…. all I was curious about was what the chapter would be reveal this time.

My Thoughts

I believe the author, Marianne Cronin, started writing this book in 2014 and this is her debut novel! 6-7yrs in the making and I think that also speaks a lot to the theme of this book, as long as you’re breathing, living, you can live. You can take 6-7yrs to work on that book, to write that letter….to find the one that got away. Look, tomorrow is promised to nobody….so preferably sooner, rather than later, but you get my point I hope!

Okay….there aren’t enough words. This book is a story…a collection of stories, of lives lived….of love lost, of loss, of friendship, of hope…..of chickens. Lot’s of chickens. lol. There’s no plot twist, no mystery to solve….it’s just reading and getting lost in the pages of their stories. I just felt like this was a reading experience…. I laughed so hard and cried even harder.

The writing flowed so well and the stories were told so well.  Marianne is such a gifted writer….to have created all these characters for us with distinguishing personalities…. to write words that evoke such emotion? GIFTED! No other word for it.

My Rating

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot has a Goodreads rating of 4.5 stars out of 5. I’m not sure I’ve seen a book rated so high before on Goodreads, though I feel like anything less than 5 stars is insane! It’s 5 stars for me….6, 7 if that would get the rating up even more. I absolutely loved this book. This is an absolutely STUNNING debut novel… Highly recommend (if that was not obvious enough)!

Disclaimer: The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot was sent to me by Penguin Random House SA in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.