The fictional Eric Newborn believes in the power of positive thinking, the law of attraction, the feel-good philosophy that puts individuals in control of their fate.

Until he can't anymore.

In "The Book of Why," the self-help guru's beliefs fail the test posed by his wife's fatal brain tumor. Riven with doubt, Newborn withdraws but must contend with the questioning fan who seeks him out.

Nicholas Montemarano will read from his new novel at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Green Room Theatre at Franklin & Marshall College, where he teaches creative writing. A book signing and reception will follow.

The associate professor of English, contacted by phone, said he will talk about why he wrote the book and the questions that came up during the process.

Montemarano said he faced a similar crisis of faith, though it wasn't expressed in life-and-death terms. Being "raised Catholic, the story I had come to believe in childhood didn't add up anymore," he said. "It was hard to have to rethink my worldview," and he "tried out other beliefs, closer to what my narrator believes."

But if positive thinking makes positive things happen, "are we responsible when terrible things happen?" Montemarano asks.

"I'm kind of a seeker," he said. "I believe in being mindful, being in the moment. I know I don't have all the answers."

He just wishes he did.

In his Jan. 10 piece "Wishful Thinking" on HuffingtonPost.com, Montemarano reveals himself as a "closeted self-help junky" who has long kept a stash of such books in his basement without bothering to hide behind the novelist's classic excuse: "research." Wayne Dyer is a special favorite, but he also drops the names of Timothy Ferriss, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and Thomas Moore.

He writes, "Only through writing about a character who believes in the law of attraction and the power of intention, only through dramatizing the genesis of his faith and his struggle with doubt, was I able to understand that he, like all of us at one time or another, was in such pain and so deeply afraid that he was desperate for answers. His questions: Why do painful things happen to us? To what extent are we in charge of our lives? If we're not in control, who or what is? Writing about this character ... allowed me to access empathy for anyone hoping to feel happier, even if they may be looking in the wrong places and trying to avoid feelings and experiences they can't and shouldn't avoid."

And maybe there is something to that law of attraction, after all, at least as it concerns collegiate affiliation.

Julia Ferrante, F&M director of media relations, noted that the book was edited by John Parsley, an F&M alumnus working at Little, Brown.

Montemarano said Parsley was aware of his previous titles — the short-story collection "If the Sky Falls," a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, and the novel "A Fine Place." — and told the professor's agent to contact him should Montemarano produce another book.

Several editors bid on the novel, Montemarano said, but he went with Parsley of Little, Brown because" I really liked his vision for the book."

jgreene@lnpnews.com