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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ANSON C. SMITH AT 203-332-5229 OR BARBARA OLEYNICK AT (203) 209-0056

BOOK LAUNCH SET FOR  HCC PROFESSOR’S NOVEL

BRIDGEPORT – Housatonic Community College English Professor Barbara Oleynick will launch her new novel, The Time has Come: The Book of Grace at a publication party Tuesday, October 11 at 12 Daniel Street in Milford.

Set in Bridgeport, the novel is the first in a mystical trilogy that follows the journeys of Grace, the last child sent by the Creator to fulfill a divine plan. In this novel reminiscent of Children of Dune and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Grace will lead humanity through the tumultuous and frightening changes on earth into an era of peace.

In the novel, Oleynick, a Milford native, pierces the shroud of organized Christian religious dogma that she feels obscures the true nature of the deity. “I believe that human beings have the capacity for peace,” Oleynick said, “but it has been mutated by the path humanity has taken, deviating from the course set out by the Creator for all.”

“The Creator, or divine spirit, is not Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist or Muslim,” she said. “Rather, the Creator is a pantheistic benevolent force embodying all of the positive traits that organized religions point to.”

“But organized religions cannot themselves realize them because of temporal and political considerations,” she said.

Enter Grace and her mother, Rachel. Rachel gives birth to Grace in a lot in Bridgeport, where she is found by amiddle age man named Albert, who takes her home to his family and raises her as his own.  A year later, he finds Rachel and does the same.

“Grace, whose birth is announced by a magnificent star, reveals her unearthly abilities at the age of one,” Oleynick said. “When re-united with her birth mother Rachel soon there after, it becomes very apparent the two are innocents that have much to teach humanity about forgiveness, love, compassion and peace.” 

As the years pass, Grace’s gifts of healing and precognition advance as rapidly as the world and its people falter, as wars and natural disasters ravage the earth.

Grace begins to teach the children their own purpose in the Creator’s plan for all by explaining that all that is known they know. She explains the origin of organized religions is such a simple manner that even the youngest of the group understands that it is the heart of a child that will lead humankind, not the hardened heart of man.”

While Grace’s character unfolds, so does Rachel’s. Rachel learns from Grace why she was chosen for her role as the one to teach others the innate healing abilities of women. She discovers her own profound gift for healing and begins to understand that she, too, will play a significant role in fulfilling the Creator’s plan for all.

 She learns that the maternal side of the Creator is the entity that continues to come to earth speaking of peace and encouraging all to return their hearts to love.  She learns, however, that the Creator is neither male nor female but is the most powerful energy that exists – the energy of love. 

Two years ago, Oleynick took her musical The Miracle of Fatima, which she wrote, produced and directed, on a tour of Connecticut and New Jersey. The play has since been translated into Portuguese. In 2007, it will be performed in Portugal’s 90th anniversary celebration of the events at Fatima and will be performed indefinitely at a permanent home in Fatima, Portugal.

The book launch, which will run from 7 to 9 p.m., is free and open to the public.

On Tuesday, October 25, Oleynick will conduct a book signing at the Barnum Museum,  820 Main St, Bridgeport, from 7 to 9 p.m.