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.