The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

Lenni Pettersson is a teen living with a terminal illness. In her mind, the word “terminal” conjures up an image of an airport. Although she received her diagnosis years ago, she remains alive and has “not flown away” (3). A nurse offers to enroll Lenni in a counseling service for teens with life-limiting conditions, but Lenni assures the surprised nurse that she has her “own form of therapy” and declines (4).

Lenni has a complicated relationship with religion. She sees God as a sort of “cosmic wishing well” who sometimes answers her prayers and sometimes worsens her health (5). She visits the hospital’s chapel only because she wants to explore a new place. She’s escorted by a nurse with bright red hair who’s new to the terminal ward, known as the May Ward, and anxious for reassurance that she’s doing a good job. In the chapel, Lenni meets Father Arthur, a 60-year-old clergyman who’s elated to have a visitor. Arthur responds with patience and amusement to Lenni’s quips and questions about the chapel’s emptiness. Lenni visits the chapel a second time, mentioning that she lived in Sweden before moving to Glasgow and asking Arthur, “Why am I dying?” (12).