Swampscott author mixes faith, science

SWAMPSCOTT – Her debut novel uses the concept of fate to examine Jewish mysticism, physics, time and family.But fate isn’t just a fictional tool for Swampscott author Wendy Polins.Fate determined that she would not just be an author, but an “entrepreneur.””It (the book) was out there and I had an agent and it was out and being looked at, but it was so slow,” said Polins.Then she got an offer to have her book launch Jewish Book Month, an event in approximately 100 cities throughout North America.”When the opportunity came along, I told publishing houses I was withdrawing my submissions,” she said. “It’s exciting to take back control. I designed the cover, for instance. It’s almost like becoming a book entrepreneur.”Polins’ debut novel “Fare Forward” follows the character of Gabriella Vogel, a young architecture student and granddaughter of a famous physicist who is about to receive a Nobel Prize for his work examining time.Vogel begins exploring her own ideas of fate and time, however, when she finds that her lover, a physicist named Benjamin Landsman, has been integral to her own family history and her grandfather’s research. He also hasn’t aged since meeting her grandmother 60 years earlier.Like her heroine, Polins studied art history and architecture at Barnard College and then Columbia University. She runs her own architecture and design firm and also teaches art history at Salem State University.But she approached architecture because she wanted to combine her interest in science – she originally was a pre-med student at Barnard College – and her skills in painting.She hadn’t planned on writing a novel. Then fate stepped in.Polins recalled experiencing that common thought of, ?Where has the time gone?’ while accompanying her daughter on college tours in 2008.Two days later, Bernie Madoff was arrested and she said her design projects halted. She had been investigating Kabbalah, which she described as an ancient Jewish mysticism based on the inter-connectedness of life. She also mistakenly stepped into a lecture on Alfred Einstein at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She found the lecture concepts very familiar.For instance, she said that many indigenous peoples and ancient mystics share the concept of a single dramatic event that created the universe, many of which she finds remarkably similar to the Big Bang Theory in science.”It was everything we had talked about,” Polins said. “The overlaps between cutting-edge science and ancient mysticism? whether you believe in God or not, the science is the same.”So Polins began writing. She solicited help from Grub Street, a non-profit writing center in Boston, found an agent and started sending out her book to publishing houses.Meanwhile, the book was being passed around among friends. Eventually copies made their way to Dallas, where two women from the Jewish Book Council called and said they wanted to select the book to launch Jewish Book Month, a North American-wide reading event that’s going throughout October.The only problem was that the publishing houses couldn’t get Polins’ book out in time.So she decided to do it herself.”I was on track and had an agent,” Polins recalled. “But I decided I have to take advantage about this.”Now, she is busy fulfilling the other roles of publishing houses and agents: promotion, book talks and publicity.But she’s putting her own spin on that too traveling to Israel and London for promotions, doing Skype book tours, and promoting her book through social media.And yes, she’s working on a second book to continue Gabriella Vogel’s story. But she’s playing with the time element. Appropriately, the book will be a prequel.People can buy the book at amazon.com or through her website at web.me.com/wpolins/fare_forward.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].