An Unlikely Scholar is a terrifying, funny, and triumphant roller coaster ride - from an assembly line to Madison Avenue, from a limo and couture wardrobe, to waiting on tables, and 27 years after high school, waking up in a college dorm room. Nancy VanDermark, the 16-year-old daughter of a Pennsylvania coal miner turned mechanic, saw stories in Glamour and Cosmopolitan magazines as windows to the world. She worked a factory job afternoons and summers to afford modeling classes. With an SAT score double the nation's average, Nancy didn't apply to college. I just don't want to be poor anymore. I'm going to work full-time as a secretary. Future in-laws furiously opposed the marriage of their brilliant son to the 19-year-old girl without a college education. Five years later Nancy became the stay-at-home mother of a bright and beautiful little boy. She was pregnant with their daughter when her happy life began to disintegrate. Her father died suddenly. Her infant daughter was born with a heart disorder, her six-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia, and her marriage fell apart. An Unlikely Scholar is the story of Nancy VanDermark's incredible journey from model to maven.