The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

A Novel

Marianne Cronin

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · June 1, 2021

“A beautiful debut, funny, tender, and animated by a willingness to confront life’s obstacles and find a way to survive. . . .

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Who it’s for
A funny, tender novel holds grief and joy in the same generous frame.
Themes
Intergenerational friendship, Mortality and living fully, Legacy and storytelling
Genres
Friendship, LGBTQ+ Fiction, Contemporary Romance

About this book

“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.

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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.

Wit and Tenderness

A funny, tender novel holds grief and joy in the same generous frame.

Come here for

  • Wry warmth beside life’s hardest truths
  • An unlikely friendship built around a century of stories

Expect

  • Humor threaded through grief and tenderness
  • Stories carried into paintings

Where it sits

Friendship33%
LGBTQ+ Fiction31%
Contemporary Romance26%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • American Plays
  • Historical Fiction
  • Lesbian Fiction
  • Literary Fiction
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Contemporary Romance
  • Gay Romance
  • New Adult Romance
  • American Historical Romance
Authors
Marianne Cronin
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
June 1, 2021
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Intergenerational friendship · Mortality and living fully · Legacy and storytelling
Reading lane
American Plays