This book had a huge emotional impact on me- so very beautifully written.
Lenni is young but with no life ahead of her and Margot is old with many stories to share and as they get to know each other an embark on a artistic rendition of their lives the interactions become more and more touching, the stories more and more real and the readers desire for a good outcome stronger and stronger.
This is a book to share, to recommend and to read again. 5 stars is not enough.

Definitely one to tug at the heartstrings, but an enjoyable read even so. Lennie meets Margot at art sessions in hospital and work together on a project whilst bolstering each other up.

Joyful and touching - a masterpiece! Two women very ill in hospital, whose combined age is a hundred, bond in an art class, telling their stories to each other through art. Incredible that it's a debut novel. A must-read. Deserves to win an award.

Words can’t describe how wonderful this book is. I started reading and thought it wasn’t for me but I would give it a go. When I next looked, I was on page 191 and couldn’t let it go. It is beautifully written, bittersweet, funny and also very sad. I defy anyone not to cry at times. Lenni is a 17 year old girl, Margot is 83 years old, hence the 100 years. Both are in hospital, neither with a good prognosis. Their paths cross by a recycling bin, and later in an art class. A deep, meaningful friendship develops and they truly love each other. There is a cast of excellent support characters, including lovely Father Arthur, New Nurse and Porter Paul. The past relationships with family and friends are cleverly written and the language adds so much depth and colour to the story. The little story about washing up and plate breaking after visiting the care home is particularly heartbreaking (no spoilers here!). This is a book is full of very diverse characters who work so well together and it really is a page turner. Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read such a beautiful book.

Lenni is 17 and Margot is 83 when they meet in hospital and quickly become fast friends. Their project of ‘100 years of Lenni and Margot’ is born.
I hate giving spoilers in reviews of books, so I won’t now either, other than to say the book is heart warming, funny, and sad. It’ll make you giggle, laugh and cry throughout.
Lovely book worth a read! And my hundredth book of the year :)

What can I say? What a beautifully written story of two women, one aged 17, one aged 83, both terminally ill and receiving end of life care. Marianne Cronin has given their friendship such a special voice. At 17 Lenni is a feisty, strong, brave young girl angry that she is dying. Margot, 83, has had a long and often troubled life. Their stories are told as they paint pictures, one for each year of their lives - a total of 100 pictures. The special bonds Lenni forms with Margot , New Nurse and Father Arthur are at times heart-warming, at times heart-breaking, often hilarious but always a joy to read. I enjoyed my journey with them.....even the times when I cried.
Thank you so much NetGalley, the author and the publishers for an advance copy of this remarkable debut.

I absolutely loved this story. It was funny, thoughtful, told the story of a brilliant friendship and had me in tears throughout.

Would recommend for fans of Jonas Jonasson.

What a beautiful story this is - Lenni is 17, Margot is 83, and the unlikely friendship they've made in an art group leads to them celebrating their collective 100 years of life by painting 100 stories.

This is a real weepie, yet at the same time heart-warming and lovely - the art group Lenni and Margot have joined is in the hospital, and they are both terminally ill.

The stories that they both tell and illustrate fill out the details of their lives - both the everyday and extraordinary stories that have made them who they are. Lenni and Margot are both so precious, you will care deeply for them both and the bond they make together. What a story from Marianne Cronin - beautiful.

When I described the premise of this book to my sister, “a 17 year old girl who is in hospital dying and an 83 year old woman in the same hospital, who’s also dying”, her reaction – a sarcastic, “Oh, lovely” – was unsurprising. However, the story is heart-warming as well as heart-wrenching, and I LOVED it.

17 year old Lenni mistakenly attends the hospital’s newly-formed art therapy class intended for the over-80s, rather than the one for her age group, and there she meets 83 year old Margot. The age difference is irrelevant. They are quite simply kindred spirits, with a similar outlook, sense of humour and sense of the absurd.

It occurs to Lenni that their ages add up to 100 and she proposes the idea of recording their joint 100 years in 100 pieces of art. As they create their works, they tell each other the story reflected in each piece, thereby sharing significant episodes of their lives.

Lenni forms special bonds with other characters such as New Nurse, Paul the porter and the hospital chaplain, Father Arthur – her off-the-wall ideas about God, priests and Christianity are child-like and thoroughly endearing and Father Arthur responds beautifully – but the relationship between her and Margot is on another level. We might have expected them to form a grandmother/granddaughter relationship, but theirs is a relationship of equals, each sharing fun and wisdom with the other.

Given the subject matter, there is obviously sadness (I did cry on more than one occasion, which is highly unusual for me), but I’d say the heart-warming outdoes the heart-wrenching in this wonderful book.

I loved this book - a real tear jerker. It was a heartwarming emotional read about 17 year old Lenni who has a life limiting illness who meets Margot - 83 - in hospital. They begin a project to paint 100 pictures between them of their lives after meeting in an art class. As they paint they hear each other’s life stories and a bond of friendship is built.

Beautifully written - one which will stay with me and which I will be recommending.

This was a sweet, moving book about two people with the combined ages of 100 and how they meet as patients in a hospital. To say more would spoil a lot of the plot but the characters were wonderfully drawn and the snapshot format of the story meant it built quickly without lots of introspection.
The characters were beautifully drawn and managed to surprise me as I was reading. I was emotionally involved & did cry.

As 2020 draws to a close I'm reminded of the phrase ' keeping the best til last'. I've read some wonderful books this year but I can say that this, one of my final reads of the year, was definitely one of the very best. The idea of a story about an 83 year old woman and a 17 year old girl who is terminally ill wouldn't. as a rule, make for a very optimistic read but believe me, this is a book that is full of surprises and if you let it pass you by you will have missed out on a beautiful experience. Lenni is 17 and dying. Margot is 83. Both are in hospital and strike up an unlikely friendship. As their combined ages equate to 100 years they decide at their hospital craft class that they will paint 100 pictures depicting key moments of their respective lives and tell their stories to one another in the process. Those stories are so special and told with such skill and poignancy by this new writer (I can hardly believe this is her debut novel), that they kept me completely enthralled throughout.. I loved all the characters in this book. Lenni is feisty, upbeat and thirsty for knowledge and she frequently bombards the hospital Chaplain Father Arthur with her many questions about religion, world affairs and life in general and he becomes a special father-like person in her life. She often challenges him with her own ideas and outlook on these matters which make for many very funny conversations. I loved reading about Father Arthur and about Lenni and her zest for life despite her predicament. Margot has led an extremely interesting life as explained in her stories to Lenni as they work their way through the many paintings and shared memories. She is a strong and determined lady with a modern outlook and attitude. Don't imagine for a moment that this book is going to be depressing or downbeat. It is full of humour, love, kindness and expertly woven and memorable prose. I adored every single aspect of it. Needless to say, tissues will be needed but if you are like me it will leave you feeling humbled, warm and overall uplifted and optimistic. I know for sure that the story will stay with me for a long, long time and is one I will recommend to everyone. I do hope that this, the first book by this author, will be the first of many more. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Utterly beautiful! My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in return for my honest and unbiased review.

I absolutely adored the story of Lenni and Margot - it’s so very touching, beautifully written and will stay with me for a very long time.

Lenni is 17, Margot is 83. Both are terminally ill. They meet in hospital when Lenni distracts the Glasgow equivalent of Nurse Ratchet from spotting Margot rifling through a cleaner's cart. Soon they become close friends attending the same art class in the hospital. Together they have lived 100 years and they start on an art project to show this with each telling the other the story of their life.

This is a charming and touching tale. It will make you laugh or at least smile and it will almost certainly make you cry. The characters are believable on the whole especially Margot. Lenni seems at times to be way too old for a 17 year old but maybe that's what terminal illness does to you and I couldn't accept that her father had opted out of her life at her bequest. Nope, just didn't buy it. But apart from that and a few other niggles (miniskirts in 1960 - no they appeared later than that) it is a lovely read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The friendship between Lenni and Margot is magnificent. I loved all the story telling and memory sharing. Wonderful characters, moving story, the best friendship.

Wow what a fabulous read. Lennie is Seventeen and Margot is eighty three, when they meet in hospital and their story is incredible, Such fabulous characters bought to life by the author in such a sensitive and beautiful way . There was humour as well as lots of tears and as the story unfolds it brings the characters to life and makes you feel like you know them personally. A fantastic debut novel definitely a 5 ⭐read

A moving story about life, terminal illness and death. Inevitably emotional at times but also uplifting in places. Delightfully depicted characters. even with Nurse Jackie, who shouldn't exist, but I'm sure does. Worth a read but be prepared to be touched by this debut novel.

What can I say about ‘The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot’ ......... Wow just wow!

It’s been a while since a book has emotionally drawn me in like this, there was not one character that I didn’t warm to, I laughed and I cried - just brilliant.

Lenni is 17 years old and is in the terminal ward, Margot is 83 and awaiting heart surgery, a chance encounter starts an unbelievable friendship as they decide to draw 100 pictures to celebrate their combined age & significant milestones in their individual lives.

I can’t believe that this is a debut by the author... the structure of the book is superb as she tells the stories of each of them.

Marianne Cronin is one to watch and truly hope she is working on another book!!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Perhaps inevitably moving, uplifting, and sad in equal measures - so goes the tale of friendship and incurable illness

This is the touching and moving story of seventeen year old Lenni Petterson who is on May Ward of Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital and eighty three year old Margot who is awaiting heart surgery. Lenni is in the ‘terminal lounge’ with a ‘life limiting’ illness and so to commemorate key moments in their lives they set out to create 100 hundred paintings in the art room run by the lovely Pippa. Through the evolution of the paintings we learn the story of their lives.

Where to start with this superb debut? Probably best to begin with the beautiful characters. Lenni is simply wonderful, she’s funny, astutely observant and so clever. She makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time which takes real skill to write. Margot is fabulous and has had a fascinating life, as although she’s experienced tragedy and loss she’s also experienced deep love and friendship through her lovely husband Humphrey and her friend Meena. Their story is beautifully written (no wonder it took six years!) with their lives emerging through the paintings. The growing friendship between Lenni and Margot is a thing of beauty, they are both wonderful in different ways. Margot enriches the last few months of Lenni’s life as does Father Arthur from the hospital chapel. I love how Lenni challenges him with her questions about religion and her out there original thinking but to dying Lenni these are very relevant questions. He deals with her so carefully and thoughtfully and falls under Lenni’s spell too as most characters do apart from the charisma bypass, jobsworth Nurse Jackie. Shame on you Jackie!

This is a wonderful and beautiful story despite the fact that Lenni is dying, she’s living her last months with as much joy as she can. It captivates, grabs you by the heartstrings and makes you laugh out loud at some of a Lenni’s actions and innovative thinking. The ending is a deeply emotional tear jerker and really touches you as you feel as if you have become friends with the characters. Ensure tissues at the ready.

Overall, a remarkable debut showing how age is no barrier to friendship and a connection that grows to love. It takes genuine literary talent to make a reader laugh and cry at the same time. This deserves to be a best seller and I highly recommend it.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK Transworld Publishers/Doubleday and to the author for a beautiful novel.