The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

The novel’s other protagonist is the loving, insightful, and conflicted Margot Macrae. When Lenni first sees the 83-year-old Scottish woman, she’s “hanging halfway out of the bin, rustling through its papery contents with both hands, her small purple-slippered feet barely touching the floor” and “her gray hair fluffy from the effort” (19). Near the novel’s end, Margot reveals that this bin-rummaging was an act of love; she was retrieving a letter from Meena, one of her soulmates. Throughout the novel, Margot overflows with love for several other characters as well. For example, she feels “celestial” love for her mother and her infant son, Davey, on the day of his birth (100). In addition to her loving heart, Margot has an insightful mind. When she learns that Lenni is terminally ill, Margot sees past the physical realities of Lenni’s condition and recognizes the girl’s inner nature, observing that the teen is “so alive” (41). Near the end of the novel, Margot shares another valuable insight with her friend when she sneaks her out of the hospital for some stargazing in Chapter 60. Margot tells Lenni that the stars that shine the clearest are dead. In addition to being an interesting piece of astronomical trivia, these words give Lenni hope that she, too, can achieve a form of permanence despite her imminent end. For all Margot’s love and insights, however, she spent much of her life wrestling with inner conflict, shame, and guilt. When she married Johnny, she felt terrible about leaving her mother even though her society expected her to marry a man and start a family of her own. Later, Margot experienced inner conflict and self-loathing when she tried and failed to stop loving Meena. Eventually, Margot overcame her self-recrimination and passive adherence to others’ expectations by choosing happiness with Meena. Although the loving, insightful Margot feels a great deal of shame and guilt in her life, she ultimately resolves this inner conflict and finds freedom.

Margot advances the plot and develops the major themes as her backstory unfolds in the recollections she shares with Lenni. This brings the two characters extremely close and interweaves the themes of The Power of Friendship and The Importance of Sharing Stories. In addition, Margot’s memories add suspense to the narrative. For example, her decades-long romance with Meena contained multiple cliffhangers that made it seem as if the women might always be star-crossed lovers before their joyful reunion in Vietnam and the subsequent marriage proposal. Margot’s stories also contribute to the theme of Finding Acceptance and Forgiveness. She feels horribly guilty about taking Humphrey’s love for granted and perpetually dresses in purple as a sort of mourning wear in penance. However, Humphrey already forgave and fully accepted Margot, which he proved by encouraging her to reunite with Meena. Margot’s companionship with Lenni in the present and her relationships with Meena and Humphrey in the past emphasize the power of friendship, stories, and acceptance.

The patient, supportive, and wise chaplain of Princess Royal Hospital, Father Arthur is a 60-year-old man who usually wears the typical attire of a Christian clergyman, “a black shirt and trousers and a white dog collar” (6). The lively Lenni enjoys startling him with her sudden appearances and plying him with questions. To her surprise, the patient chaplain doesn’t see her as an irritant the way that Jacky and some of the other hospital staff do. Rather, he joyfully welcomes her company and encourages her curiosity about faith. Much of Father Arthur’s wisdom stems from not pretending to have all the answers to Lenni’s questions. For example, when she asks him why she’s dying in Chapter 3, he explains that he believes she isn’t dying “because of God’s deciding to punish [her] and not because He is neglecting [her]” but rather because death is a necessary “part of [her] story” (15). Lenni greatly values honesty, so she appreciates that Arthur gives her his sincere personal opinion rather than replying with a rote response from scripture or religious authorities. She continues to seek out his insights on life and religion and praises the “therapeutic nature of [her] chats with Father Arthur” (21). In addition to patience and wisdom, Father Arthur offers Lenni his complete support. For example, when Jacky forbids Lenni from going to the chapel in Chapter 32, he sneaks past the irate head nurse to console his friend. Father Arthur’s unwavering patience, wisdom, and support make him an important, if static, supporting character.

Father Arthur develops the themes of The Power of Friendship and Finding Acceptance and Forgiveness. Because of Arthur, the chapel becomes a sanctuary for the lonely Lenni. He acts as a friend and confidant to her, allowing her to share her thoughts and questions. Lenni’s efforts to help Father Arthur advance her character development. For example, she determinedly promises to make his final service in the chapel a memorable occasion and then keeps her word by filling the pews with Pippa’s art students. This warm farewell means a great deal to the chaplain, and the art students’ presence shows that the once-solitary Lenni has made friends with them as well. In return, Father Arthur helps Lenni through his visits and conversations. In Chapter 32, when Lenni tearfully thanks him for comforting her, he answers, “I do believe that’s what friends are for” (139). In addition to being a staunch friend to Lenni, Father Arthur supports Margot and contributes to the theme of acceptance. After Lenni’s death, he helps Margot by being someone she can cry with and talk to. To Margot’s astonishment, he accepts her love for Meena and uses Ecclesiastes 9:9 to encourage her to “[e]njoy life with the woman whom [she loves] all the days of [her] fleeting life” (319). As a model of friendship and acceptance, Father Arthur supports both protagonists.

The free, flighty, and fearful Meena Star is one of the novel’s most important secondary characters. When Lenni sees a photograph of Meena, she finds the woman “ethereal. Her blond hair is brighter than [she] imagined, her skin paler, her eyes rounder. There’s something elfin about her ears” (140). Meena burst into Margot’s life at a London police station and advised Margot to “rip up the missing persons report and to ‘liberate’ [herself]” from Johnny once and for all (127). Meena challenged societal conventions and traditional gender norms by refusing to settle down with a man. She sought to liberate Margot from the weight of shame and other people’s expectations, such as when she laughed off an old woman’s criticism of the flowers painted on their faces in Chapter 33. Meena’s passionate belief in liberation led her to engage in activism. She and her friends rescued abused animals, and she participated in a protest against the Vietnam War. A free bird, Meena was also flighty. Unpredictable in her behavior and unwilling to face her true feelings for Margot, Meena vanished for three weeks after Margot told her about Davey. As much as Meena strove to be free, fear kept her from admitting that she loved Margot back. She literally ran away when Margot challenged her to admit the truth at the protest, and it took her decades to find the courage to voice her love.

As Margot’s main love interest, Meena spurs Margot’s character development and unknowingly catalyzes Lenni and Margot’s friendship. Born Amelia Catherine Houghton to an Irish Catholic mother, she renamed herself Meena Star and made it her mission to defy convention. She changed and challenged Margot by convincing her to create a new life and identity for herself instead of looking for Johnny. Margot grew bolder as a result. For example, she helped Meena and her friends attempt to rescue lab mice. In a bittersweet twist, Margot used the strength and independence that Meena fostered in her to leave Meena and London behind after Meena proved unable to admit that she loved her back. In this way, Cronin uses their love story to add suspense as readers wonder if their paths would cross again or if they’d remain star-crossed. Eventually, the dynamic Meena overcame her fear and voiced her love for Margot when they reunited in Vietnam: She was “careless and free” when she embraced Margot and cried, “Tao yêu mày!,” meaning “I love you” (300). Years later, Margot finds that the letter Lenni helps her rescue from the recycling bin contains a marriage proposal from Meena. By helping her save something so important, Lenni immediately endears herself to Margot, setting the stage for the friendship at the center of the novel.