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Lian Dolan

Biography

Lian Dolan

Lian Dolan is a writer and talker. She is the author of THE MARRIAGE SABBATICAL, LOST AND FOUND IN PARIS, THE SWEENEY SISTERS, HELEN OF PASADENA and ELIZABETH THE FIRST WIFE, and is a regular columnist for Pasadena Magazine. She's written regular columns for O, The Oprah Magazine, Working Mother Magazine and Pasadena Magazine. She is also the co-creator of Satellite Sisters, an online community for women, and for many years was a host of their award-winning and top-rated talk show/podcast of the same name, which she produced with her four sisters. She graduated from Pomona College in Claremont, California with a degree in Classics and now lives in Pasadena with her husband and grown sons. 

Books by Lian Dolan

The Marriage Sabbatical
by Lian Dolan - Fiction, Women's Fiction

After 23 years of building careers and raising kids together, Jason and Nicole Elswick are ready for a break from their daily lives. Jason has spent years planning his dream sabbatical --- ditching work for a nine-month-long motorcycle trip through South America. But that’s Jason’s dream, not Nicole’s. After years working retail and parenting in Portland, Nicole craves the sun of the Southwest and the artistic community in Santa Fe, where she wants to learn jewelry design. A chance encounter at a dinner party presents a surprising --- and intriguing --- way out of their dilemma. Over a little too much wine, Jason and Nicole’s married neighbors sing the praises of the 500 Mile Rule: their policy of enjoying themselves however they wish --- and with whomever they wish --- when they’re temporarily far apart.

Lost and Found in Paris
by Lian Dolan - Fiction, Women's Fiction

One fateful afternoon, Joan’s husband drops a bombshell: he’s fathered twins with another woman. A furious Joan impulsively decides to book a last-minute trip to Paris as an art courier: the person museums hire to fly valuable works of art to potential clients, discreetly stowed in their carry-on luggage. On the plane she chats up her seatmate, Nate, a tech nerd who invites her to dinner in Paris. But after a romantic dinner and an even more romantic night together, Joan wakes up next to her new lover to discover the drawings gone. Even more shocking is what’s been left in their place: a sketch from her father’s journals, which she thought had been lost when he died on 9/11, and a poem that reads like a treasure hunt.

The Sweeney Sisters
by Lian Dolan - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Maggie, Eliza and Tricia Sweeney grew up as a happy threesome in the idyllic seaside town of Southport, Connecticut. But their mother’s death from cancer 15 years ago tarnished their golden-hued memories, and the sisters drifted apart. Their one touchstone is their father, Bill Sweeney, an internationally famous literary lion and college professor. When Bill dies unexpectedly, his shell-shocked daughters return to their childhood home and throw an Irish wake like no other. As guests pay their respects and reminisce, one stranger crashes the party. When journalist Serena Tucker had her DNA tested, she learned that she had a 50% genetic match with her childhood neighbor, Maggie. It seems that Serena’s chilly WASP mother, Birdie, had a history with Bill --- one that has remained totally secret until now.