The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston is a lovely novel that tells the story of an eighty-two-year-old who discovers the wheelchair-bound body of Bernard Greer, who looks like Frederick.
Fred was on the verge of homelessness and his wife Dawn had passed away after fifty years together. They had wanted to have children, but were never able to. Fred wheeled Bernard to try to find someone who could help, but then loses control of the wheelchair and Bernard's body falls into the river. At this point, Denise, a caregiver from Bernard's assisted living home, comes across Fred and assumes he Bernard. Fred tries to rectify the mistake, but Bernard had dementia so the protestations are cast aside as Fred taken back to the home as Bernard.
Also told in the book is the story of Hannah and Sadie, young sisters whose lives are upended when Sadie diagnosed with cancer, and their father, who we learn was Bernard, unable to cope with the pain of Sadie's illness and then death. He left Hannah and her mother, and Hannah vowed never to forgive him.
Fred at the home tried to explain that he not Bernard, but people ignored his statements given Bernard's dementia, so Fred settled in with a warm place to stay that provided his meals. He became a friend to many, including home residents Albert and Val, and caregivers Kevin and Linh. Kevin fell for Linh, and Bernard encouraged him to approach her. Albert and Val were deeply in love, and Albert had advanced dementia and thought Fred was his brother Fred, who died in a car accident on the way to Albert and Val's wedding decades prior. They had another wedding in the home, with Fred serving as the best man, Albert's brother.
The stories of Fred and Hannah come together as he learns about her as Bernard's long-estranged daughter, and the two connect, at first with Hannah wanting to simply tell off the father she hadn't seen in decades and then with them reconciling. Fred learns of Hannah's money troubles and that her husband left her when she became pregnant. The caregiver Denise who found Fred and assumed he Bernard was struggling in life, with an emotionally abusive husband and drinking problem. Fred discovered her drunk at work and showed a great deal of grace to her in a time of need. Later in the book, estate attorney Andrew Mora comes into the picture.
There's choices made by both Fred and Hannah in kind of gobsmacking scenes towards the end of the book and and the overarching thing about Fred is he's kind. This is to Hannah, Denise, Albert, Val, Kevin, Linh, and others he comes across. It's a funny read in places and the book jacket notes it about "grief, forgiveness, redemption, and finding family." Then in the author's note, Johnston writes a lovely missive about the source material of this her first book, with mention of her grandfather Fred (who she dedicated the book to), mistaken identity, doppelgangers, and redemption.
