Books to Borrow Martinsburg Community Library Recommends

Bernard Phillip Greer passed away during a nursing home excursion to a river park, yet he is still a patient at Wattle River Nursing Home. How did that happen? Through a comedy of errors involving mistaken identity and disbelief caused by dementia, another gentleman, 82-year-old Frederick Fife, takes his place at the facility. Frederick is faced with a decision: to continue the bluff or come clean and admit he is not Bernard Greer. He chooses to become Bernard. This sets up a series of which ultimately comes down to some thought-provoking decisions that Frederick must make. If you can get past the unbelievability of the misidentification and mistaken identity, this novel will serve you well.

Several themes to which many people can relate permeate the novel. Front and center are issues such as loneliness, homelessness, dementia, and broken families. Johnston deals with these issues by drawing out the humanity in each of her characters. Through Frederick we see how the patients view each other, their families, and their caregivers. At times heart-wrenching, at times comedic, and at times very sobering, this novel helps guide us through the feelings we all will face at some point in our lives.

This is Johnston's first novel, and it is a superlative endeavor. She is from Australia, and the novel is set there. Johnston wanted a career in medicine, but opted to follow her heart, and her grandfather, as he entered a nursing home where she became a social support coordinator. She put the knowledge she gained into a multi-faceted novel. She covers many of the issues that faced the patients she worked with, and does so in a captivating, deeply personal fashion. It is a novel we all can relate to. If you are a fan of A Man Called Ove, you should definitely pick up this book.