The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

You’d be excused for assuming that a book about two terminally ill people waiting to die might not be the most uplifting, joyful or life-affirming read. But it is. I adored Marianne Cronin’s The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot and felt, as a fellow bibliophile friend of mine remarked, as though I could give the novel a little hug after every other chapter.

It tells the story of an extraordinary friendship between motherless 17-year-old Lenni and quirky 83-year-old Margot: two delightful women who one can’t but fall head over heels for. Together they tackle a challenging art project that becomes their raison d’etre and ultimately captures the best and worst moments of their respective lives.

Despite doctor's orders for bed rest, Lenni decides to join an art therapy class for septuagenarians where she meets fellow patient Margot, an eccentric 83-year-old who loves the colour purple. Lenni and Margot develop a connection and become instant friends, their vast age difference notwithstanding. When they realise that they’ve lived for a combined 100 years, they decide to paint a hundred pieces to memorialise their life stories.

Cronin cleverly uses the paintings as a device to introduce the characters and to explore their fears, longings, heartbreaks and triumphs. I enjoyed her style of writing and the seamlessness with which she threads and weaves the vastly different human experiences of the two women. She also manages to give weight and consequence to Lenni’s relatively short life, even though it barely compares to the dramatic adventures that marked Margot’s 83 years.

Both Lenni and Margot are beautifully, lovingly crafted characters: mischievous, fun and both brimming with a zest for life we humans ironically typically only acquire when confronted with mortality. As their extraordinary friendship deepens, it becomes clear that life still has a few twists and turns in store for Lenni and Margot.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is chockfull of snort-laugh passages, but also moments of contemplation and thoughtful, believable connections between the cast. Together, the various and colourful characters form a warm circle of friendship around Lenni and Margot, engendering the notion that life is not about the destination, nor even so much about the journey, but rather about the company you keep. It is no surprise that The Independent voted The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot as ‘the best uplifting book of 2021’. It’s certainly an ambitious novel, covering it all: the value of truth, the need to give and to receive, the grace of aging, the bravery of youth, the pursuit of happiness, love, and the art of forgiveness; but Cronin ultimately pulls it off, and with some aplomb, making it one of my most enjoyable reads of 2021.