49 pages • 1-hour read
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife: A Novel
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Chapter 46-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 46 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of illness, death, death by suicide, addiction, and pregnancy loss.
At Hannah’s appointment, the obstetrician explains that Hannah has gestational diabetes and then explains how to manage the condition. Fred is thrilled to be allowed to watch the sonogram of the baby. As they leave, he presents Hannah with a red and white birdhouse he made in a woodshop class at the nursing home. He has included a piece of the original—which he found under Bernard’s bed—in the new piece.
Chapter 47 Summary
Denise meets with the director of nursing, Sharon, preparing to reveal “Bernard’s” identity. However, she changes her mind and instead admits to Sharon that she is not well and asks for a leave from her job. Sharon grants it, and Denise goes straight to Fred’s room: She leaves the evidence of his identity with him, promising she will never reveal his secret.
Fred is relieved but also still feels guilty. He decides to ask Patricia to help him do some online shopping: He wants to buy a nice gift for Hannah’s baby. However, Bernard’s debit card is rejected for being low on funds. Fred wrestles with his conscience. He has always prided himself on being honest and worries about deceiving Hannah and her baby.
Chapter 48 Summary
Fred goes to Hannah’s house for tea and is surprised at how shabby it is. She admits that she is having money problems due to ending her relationship with Mike and missing work because of the pregnancy. Fred wishes he could provide the car seat that Hannah needs but, recalling Bernard’s rejected debit card, is not sure that he can.
Then an idea comes to him, and he asks Hannah to take him to Bernard’s bank. There, after showing Bernard’s ID, Fred learns that the account attached to the debit card has only $62 left in it. The teller explains that Bernard had a joint account with someone named Andrew Mora, which has over $1 million in it. Bernard needs Mora to co-sign in order to move any of the money, however.
Chapter 49 Summary
Back in Bernard’s room, Fred searches his papers and files until he discovers that Andrew Mora is the name of Bernard’s lawyer. Fred phones Mora’s office and arranges for the lawyer to meet him at the nursing home on Friday.
As he ends the call, Fred discovers that Hannah has forgotten her wallet in his room.
Chapter 50 Summary
Hannah has just ordered a delivery of food when Bernard appears at her home with her wallet, having snuck out of the nursing home by pretending to go to bed. She invites him to stay and eat with her. They then watch a movie and eat low-sugar ice cream. As Hannah drives him home at the end of the night, Fred is overcome with happiness and hopes no one will discover his identity.
Chapter 51 Summary
When Mora visits, he explains to Fred that Bernard instructed him that he should not be allowed to access the money in the account. Bernard won it in a gambling windfall and set up legal strictures to ensure that Hannah would receive all of it after Bernard’s death. Fred decides that this means Bernard must die a second time.
Chapter 52 Summary
Hannah and Fred play chess. Hannah is heading out of town the next day for a friend’s wedding and, knowing that he will not see her again, Fred tells Hannah that he loves her. He is elated when she expresses the same feelings. After she leaves, he begins putting his plan for Bernard’s death into action.
Later, Denise notices that a bottle of sleeping pills prescribed to a resident named Kathleen is almost empty.
Chapter 53 Summary
When she returns to town, Hannah drives to the nursing home only to find an ambulance and police cars. At first, it seems as though Bernard has died, but then Hannah sees him handcuffed. (The ambulance, it turns out, is for Kathleen, who actually took the sleeping pills.) Fred tells Hannah that he has explained everything in a letter, which he gives her.
Chapter 54 Summary
At the police station, Fred recounts the true story of Bernard’s death to the police. When he has finished, they take him to a Salvation Army shelter where they have secured a temporary room for him.
Chapter 55 Summary
Hannah reads the letter from Fred in which he explains how he came to be Bernard. He apologizes to Hannah, saying that he loves her as if she were his daughter.
Chapter 56 Summary
The police interview Denise, who admits that there were clues that Fred was not actually Bernard. However, she does not believe that Fred set out to deceive or harm anyone.
Chapter 57 Summary
Hannah meets with Mora. He explains that years ago, Bernard hit a gambling windfall and placed the winnings in a trust for Hannah. Mora stresses that Bernard was able to overcome his addiction and that he is certain of Bernard’s love for Hannah. Hannah is surprised by the amount of money but still hurt that Fred posed as her father.
Chapter 58 Summary
Hannah visits Sadie’s grave, where she places a piece of the purple teacup. She reads Bernard’s final letter and forgives him.
Chapter 59 Summary
Fred learns that Hannah will not press charges against him for the funds he used for his care at the nursing home. He is told that the shelter is working with a social worker to find housing for him, but as he thinks about losing Hannah, he wishes she were truly his daughter and that she and the baby were going to be a part of his future.
Chapter 60 Summary
A funeral is held for Bernard. Hannah greets a few distant relatives and then gives the eulogy. She is stumbling through it when Fred arrives. Hannah struggles to say something pleasant about Bernard and finds herself speaking about Fred instead. After the service, Hannah finds Fred and calls him “Dad.”
Chapter 61 Summary
Hannah and Fred visit Bernard’s grave. Hannah has forgiven them both and invites Fred to live with her and the baby. She leaves an ultrasound photo on Bernard’s grave, and Fred thanks Bernard for letting Fred borrow his life.
Epilogue Summary
Fred and Hannah receive a wedding invitation from Kevin and Linh. Hannah’s baby has been born and is named Dawn Sadie Greer.
Chapter 46-Epilogue Analysis
As Hannah and Fred’s relationship deepens, The Importance of Familial Bonds is underscored. Hannah has grown to trust Fred, certain that he is genuine in his love and concern for her. The gift of the birdhouse, inspired by the childhood one made for Bernard, cements this commitment, becoming a symbol of their formerly damaged but now repaired relationship. Not only does it indicate that “Bernard” understands that Hannah’s gift was one of love and kindness, but rebuilding it also represents an apology on Bernard’s part.
Of course, this apology is problematic because it comes from Fred, not Bernard—again and again, Fred acts on Bernard’s behalf in the certainty that Bernard was indeed remorseful for his treatment of Hannah (a belief that the discovery of Bernard’s recovery from addiction and commitment to securing Hannah’s inheritance supports). His commitment to justifying his deception by helping those around him becomes centered on Hannah as he recognizes the many ways that he can help Hannah heal. That he seeks to access Bernard’s money not to aid himself but to improve Hannah’s life further characterizes Fred as kind, empathetic, and altruistic. Indeed, by seeing to it that Bernard’s wishes are carried out, Fred performs a selfless act not only for Hannah but also for Bernard.
Drawing once again on the motif of mistaken identity, the novel encourages readers to believe that the ambulance at the nursing home is there for Fred, who has presumably chosen to die by suicide by taking Kathleen’s sleeping pills. The death of the protagonist would mark a departure from the novel’s overall tone, which is generally upbeat despite its often-difficult subject matter, and yet in many ways, Fred’s actual choice represents an even greater sacrifice. More than death, Fred fears losing his home and (especially) those close to him, and he risks both when he chooses to reveal the evidence of his identity.
Indeed, though Denise insists that Fred had no ill intent when masquerading as Bernard, Hannah is not so quick to adopt this perspective. In a sense, she has lost her father twice: first as a child and now as an adult. She feels a mixture of grief over the loss of the relationship she was developing with Fred and anger that he deceived her. Her feelings toward Fred are also bound up in her feelings about Bernard, and she finds it difficult to pinpoint who is the precise source of her feelings. Although the novel has lingered on the positive aspects of Fred’s charade, Hannah’s response to learning the truth reveals the cost of lying even for noble reasons, developing the theme of The Ethics of Deception.
A turning point in Fred and Hannah’s relationship comes when Fred arrives at Bernard’s funeral—a gesture Hannah reads as an act of genuine kindness. Fred has nothing to gain from maintaining proximity to Hannah, so his desire simply to extend kindness to her becomes clear. The context of her father’s funeral also invites comparison between Fred and Bernard (with Hannah quickly realizing how many of “Bernard’s” positive qualities were actually Fred’s) while also underscoring the role that Fred has played in Hannah reconciling with and forgiving Bernard. Her experience with Fred allows her to heal the hurt she has been carrying with her.
That Hannah herself recognizes this is clear from her invitation for Fred to live with her. This inclusion of Fred in her life benefits everyone involved: Her daughter will be able to develop a meaningful relationship with Fred, a “grandfather” whom she would not otherwise have had, while Fred gets to fulfill his lifelong wish of becoming a father (and grandfather). That he does so despite his age marks the culmination of the theme of Obtaining Meaning in Later Life: It is never too late even to become a parent, the novel suggests. Moreover, by naming the baby “Dawn Sadie,” Hannah honors both the memory of her late sister and Fred’s late wife, Dawn. In this way, Fred is finally able to put to rest his guilt over Dawn’s pregnancy loss.
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