The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

Johnston debuts with a sweet story of mistaken identity and second chances. The narrative begins with a failed rescue attempt, as impoverished widower Fred Fife tries to help a nonresponsive man, who turns out to be nursing home resident Bernard Greer, away from a river’s edge. After Bernard falls into the river and is carried out of sight, a harried nursing home employee ushers Fred, who looks just like Bernard, back to the home. Because Bernard exhibited signs of dementia, nobody believes Fred’s insistence that he doesn’t belong there, and when Bernard’s body is discovered with Fred’s wallet, which fell into the river during the botched rescue attempt, he’s identified by the police as Fred. After Fred’s initial resistance, he settles into the relative comfort of the home, befriending fellow resident Albert, who, in his dementia, believes Fred is his brother. When Bernard’s estranged daughter, Hannah, appears at the nursing home, Fred, who always longed for children and deeply misses his late wife, decides to lean into his lie to offer Hannah a happy and supportive version of the man who abandoned her. Johnston places the painful realities of grief and aging alongside Fred’s puckish antics and lands a convincingly hopeful ending. The result is a triumphant last act story. Agent: Stacy Testa, Writers House. (Sept.)