Book Club – The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Seventeen-year-old Lenni Petterson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though she’s been told she’s dying, Lenni still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets magnificent Margot, an eighty-three-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni’s life in ways she never imagined.

As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens up 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 marks on the world. 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, this book reminds us of the preciousness of life as it considers the legacy we choose to leave, how we influence the lives of others after we’re gone, and the wonder of a friendship that transcends time.