Extras

Cattail Lane: A Novel

Nick Ackerman’s life is an aimless circuit between his uninspiring job and the local bar until a note from a stranger changes everything. He learns he has a 14-year-old son, Billy, whose grandmother can no longer look after him. Railroaded into fatherhood, Nick takes in the resentful Billy and shuffles Grandma Evie off to the nearby dementia ward at Prairie View Manor. Things get off to a rocky start: father and son are little more than strangers, and Nick struggles with his new caretaking role while Billy can’t seem to let go of his. Luckily, there is Sarah, a housekeeper at Prairie View and the single mother of an energetic and offbeat five-year-old. It is Sarah who Nick turns to as a parental role model and maybe something more.

Nick, Sarah, and Billy all carry their own betrayals and disappointments and are used to keeping others at a distance, but during the dog days of summer, they are given a chance to leave past hurts behind and find a new kind of family.

Compassionate and closely observed, Cattail Lane is a moving exploration of forgiveness, second chances, and the everyday moments where we might find our way to one another.

Goodreads

ECW Press, Toronto, 2025

RAVES & REVIEWS

In the generous world of this novel, redemption is possible, goodness is just beneath the core, and beauty is everywhere, if you only have the eye to see it. — Pickle Me This

Kimmel shows an almost equal care between the characters and landscape and creates a warm and welcoming world for the reader. The story closes with a satisfying sense of beginning rather than ending. — Alberta Views

Written with empathy and compassion, this was an uplifting family drama…Both heartwarming and at times heart-wrenching. Highly recommended! — Fictionphile

Cattail Lane is thoughtful and hopeful, confronting the hard realities of life with tenderness. If you love heartfelt stories that centre around family, you have to pick this up! — Armed With A Book

Cattail Lane is a gorgeous and heartfelt novel I read as a mediation on trust, loyalty, family ties, and forgiveness.
— Julie Kane, professor and collection strategies librarian, Washington and Lee University

Cattail Lane is a warm and wise multigenerational story about family and redemption. Fran Kimmel writes with an empathetic heart and a keen eye about a man and his son, and the multitude of ripples their choices and their lives make. Her insights into the fluid nature and complex architecture of families make this novel poignant and memorable. A fine and heartening read.— Lori Hahnel, author of Vermin and Flicker

Cattail Lane is a story of hope: hope as it arrives in the life of a man who has lost his way, in the residents of a dementia ward, and in a quiet 14-year-old boy. With tenderness and humour, Fran Kimmel brings us deep into the hearts of characters trying to do right by others.
— Astrid Blodgett, author of You Haven't Changed a Bit and This is How You Start to Disappear