Elizabeth the First Wife

by Lian Dolan

Overview

The Los Angeles Times–bestselling author of Helen of Pasadena offers a smart, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about new love, new life, and Shakespeare.

"A charmingly funny and effortless read....wonderfully developed cast of characters"
— Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)

Elizabeth Lancaster, an English professor at Pasadena City College, finds her perfectly dull but perfectly orchestrated life upended one summer by three men: her movie-star ex-husband, a charming political operative, and William Shakespeare. Until now, she'd been content living in the shadow of her high-profile and highly accomplished family. Then her college boyfriend and one-time husband of seventeen months, A-list action star FX Fahey, shows up with a job offer that she can't resist, and Elizabeth's life suddenly gets a whole lot more interesting. She's off to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for the summer to make sure FX doesn't humiliate himself in an avant-garde production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

As she has done so skillfully with her novels, The Sweeney Sisters and Helen of Pasadena, which spent more than a year on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list, Lian Dolan spins a lively, smart, and very funny tale of a woman reinventing her life in unexpected ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938849053
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/07/2013
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	692,062
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Lian Dolan is a writer, producer and podcaster. She is the author of The Sweeney Sisters and two Los Angeles Times best-selling novels, as well as the editor of the Satellite Sisters' book You're the Best. Lian produces Satellite Sisters, a hit podcast recorded weekly with sisters Julie and Liz. She has written for O, The Oprah Magazine and Working Mother Magazine, as well as for TV and print. Lian is an empty-nester, living with her husband and her German shepherd in Pasadena, California.

Editorial Reviews

The breezy style of Dolan's Helen of Pasadena here carries over to Elizabeth Lancaster, a Shakespeare teacher at Pasadena Community College. Although her father is a Nobel Prize winner, her mother is an obsessive organizer, one sister is married to a California gubernatorial candidate, and another sister is a physician, Elizabeth is content with her life—until her ex-husband, now a famous movie star, walks into her classroom. FX Fahey, hired to do live theater at the Ashland Oregon Shakespeare Festival, wants to hire Elizabeth as his literary advisor. She accepts the offer and takes her teenaged niece along as her intern. The Ashland scene clearly shows the rift between classical Shakespeare and Hollywood when the director wants full nudity in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Elizabeth, desperate to save face, manages some modification in the production which, unfortunately, isn't enough to prevent her entire family from entering the fray. Dolan, a Pasadena resident, knows her territory as she writes of gifted children, obsessions with clothing, food, and public image. But Elizabeth comes off more like Bridget Jones than an adult Shakespearean professor. In spite of the snarky style the pace lags, and the one-dimensional characters and feel-good Hollywood ending make this standard airport fare. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Dolan's sophomore effort (after Helen of Pasadena) is a charmingly funny and effortless read. Elizabeth Lancaster is happy with her life as an English professor at a community college in Pasadena, CA. Though her overachieving family includes a Nobel laureate father, a sister who's pursuing a cure for cancer, and another sister who is helping her congressman husband move on to bigger and better things, Elizabeth likes where she's landed. At least she thought she did. Then FX Fahey, a hunky Hollywood movie star and her ex-husband, arrives on her doorstep and throws her for a loop. It took Elizabeth years to get over FX, but his offer of a job helping to stage A Midsummer Night's Dream may just suck her back in. Joining FX in Ashland, OR, is only the first hurdle. Once on site, Elizabeth discovers that things aren't going to be as easy as FX predicted. When complications spark a visit from the entire Lancaster clan to town, not to mention the man with whom Elizabeth has been skyping all summer, our heroine is torn between fight and flight. VERDICT This novel owes its success to the wonderfully developed cast of characters, especially Elizabeth, a fully grounded adult who deals gracefully with life (no chick-lit slapstick clutziness here). Fans of Katie Fforde and Jill Mansell will find much to like here.—Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

Library Journal

"A charmingly funny and effortless read....wonderfully developed cast of characters"
— Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)

"A Shakespeare-influenced delight."
— Flavorpill

"Whipsmart...Elizabeth the First Wife...tackles reinvention, love, and finding yourself—all with a delicious soupcon of Shakespeare."
— Caroline Leavitt, New York Times-bestselling author of Pictures of You

“Brings humor and warmth to a contemporary story about a woman coping with family, career, and romance.”
—Tampa Bay Times

“A joyous and delightful tale.”
— Shelf Awareness

“Lian Dolan has created the perfect blend of vulnerability, complication, and wit in this outstanding second novel. With timeless storylines that play out on the stage and in the real world, this is a purely enchanting read.”
— Robin Kall, host, Reading with Robin

“It is a work of fiction, but boy is it detailed about what goes on in Ashland and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.”
—The Jefferson Exchange
"Reading Elizabeth the First Wife by Lian Dolan is kind of like sitting down for coffee with that really smart, witty friend who always has a madcap story (or three) to share."
—Hamlet Hub

From the Publisher