#Shy was one before but she eventually became a standalone

[hoodie-prince-kid]

i've had villain phases but now i'm genuinely wondering why none of them ever stuck.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hi there! Do you have a meta on Sara's biography but more focused on her education background?

hi, anon!

yup, here and here.

the "cliff notes" version:

since hers is a mid-september birthday, sara likely either began attending kindergarten "early" at age four (around two weeks shy of her fifth birthday) OR late at a couple of weeks before her sixth birthday (as the typical california cutoff date for kindergarten admissions is september 1st). personally, i lean more toward the earlier option, as i think it's highly likely she was probably already reading and kindergarten-ready by that age.

at some point during her elementary, middle, and/or high school years, she seems to have skipped at least two grade levels, though we don't know when or under what circumstances she did so.

however, the fact that she managed to do so is very impressive not only for the usual reasons but also considering that as a foster child, she likely moved schools/districts fairly frequently.

we know she was an advanced reader at an early age, as she reports in episode 05x21 "committed" that she read moby dick by herman melville as a fifth grader.

in episode 02x04 "bully for you," she describes herself as having been a "science nerd" in high school.

per her old cbs character biographies, sara graduated from high school as the class valedictorian at age sixteen.

shortly thereafter, she became a legally emancipated minor and left the foster care system.

at this point, she was awarded a full-ride scholarship and early admission to harvard university in cambridge, massachusetts and moved cross-country from california to attend school there.

sara most likely started her undergraduate coursework at harvard in late august or early september '88, i.e., about two or three weeks before her seventeenth birthday.

based on comments she makes in episode 01x09 "unfriendly skies," she seems to have still been at harvard in '92, which indicates that she probably took ~5 years to complete her bs there, probably because even though she was on a full-ride scholarship, she still had to work to put herself through school and build up some savings due to her unique situation as an emancipated minor with no post-graduation financial safety net otherwise.

her bs was in theoretical physics.

in real life, there is no standalone master's degree program in physics at uc berkeley—only a phd program with an optional embedded master's degree track built in—however, per her old cbs biographies, she did earn a master's degree in physics from uc berkeley (emphasis unspecified).

if one wants to try to make sense of this incongruity between fact and fiction, then one could maybe infer that she was accepted to the physics doctoral program at berkeley and completed the ma requirements before leaving school short of completing her phd (possibly due to money issues or just losing interest and diverting into law enforcement instead).

while at berkeley, sara took part in a work-study program that placed her at the san francisco coroner's office, which is the route by which she eventually found her way into the field of criminalistics after grad school.

though we don't have exact dates for her graduations from either harvard or berkeley, she was likely still pretty young at the time when she earned her master's degree (approx. 23/24 years old).

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time!

[trinitymarrow]

ARC REVIEW: The Lady Gets Lucky (The Fifth Avenue Rebels #2) by Joanna Shupe

4.5 'Professor Ward’ Stars!

*ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

In Joanna Shupe's second installment of her Fifth Avenue Rebels series, we follow a shy heroine desperate to find herself a husband in order to be away from her horrible mother. However, because of her lack in success with talking to men and her low self confidence due to her mother's scathing remarks about her behavior and appearance, Alice Lusk needs help. And who better to teach her the ways of seducing a good husband than Christopher "Kit" Ward - a well known rascal who is able to charm any lady he chooses? What begins from page one is a lovely, entertaining, and sweet friends to lovers historical romance! Kit and Alice will make you fall in love with them before you know it.

KEEP READING UNDER THE CUT

I loved the development between Kit and Alice. How their "lessons" eventually started to turn into them genuinely liking to spend time together, a friendship forming, to then mutual attraction. But obstacles stood in their way. Kit doesn't believe in marriage and Alice's parents would never accept Kit as a potential husband for her. But, with love growing between them, each of their walls break down and those obstacles are taken care of. The only reason I'm not going full five stars here is because I felt as though it took Kit a bit too long to accept the fact that he did want to marry Alice. It became a little frustrating. Another thing I loved is how Kit and Alice both had interests and goals in their personal lives. Alice loves to cook. She loves food. And Kit is opening up a supper club. It was cool how both their interests came together in the story and they both helped each other pursue them. The side characters in the book were an enjoyable addition to the story. I loved Nellie, Preston, Katherine, and The Duke. I genuinely hope they all get their own books eventually. This was my first time reading Joanna Shupe. I had heard great things about her other books among the romance community. It wasn't until I saw this book pop up on NetGalley that I decided to give her a shot. I'm so glad I did. This book was fantastic! I got a very sweet and delicious love story paired with interesting characters, a compelling plot, and swoon worthy romance. Everything I could ask for that I love in my historicals, this had it. This will not be the last time I read a Joanna Shupe book, that's for sure. I had no problem understanding or following the events of this book even though I didn't read the first in the series. So this is definitely a standalone in case anyone wanted to skip book one. In conclusion, you should not miss out on this book if it sounds up your alley! TROPES: wallflower heroine, scoundrel hero, lessons in seduction, friends to lovers 'The Lady Gets Lucky' releases OCTOBER 26th 2021!

[xtruss]

AROUND THE WORLD

This Muslim Spy Princess Sacrificed Her Life To Take Down The Nazis

— April 16, 2017 | EducateInspireChange.Org

History glosses over Muslim involvement in World War II. Hundreds of thousands of Muslim soldiers from Africa, India and the Soviet Union sacrificed their lives in the fight against fascism. So why don’t we ever hear about them?

The largest volunteer army ever came from India to help contain Hitler. It numbered 2.5 million people. Many of them were practitioners of Islam.

Noor Inayat Khan was one. Noor was a published writer who later served as a resistance agent. She eventually became Britain’s only Muslim war heroine.

Sometimes known as Nora Baker or “The Spy Princess,” Noor was born in Moscow in 1914 to an American mother and an Indian father, but she grew up in Paris where she learned to speak fluent French.

Noor’s father, Hazrat Inayat Khan, was a poet and musician descended from Indian royalty. Khan taught Universal Sufism, a mystical approach to the study of Islam. He raised Noor and her sister to value religious tolerance and pacifist ideals.

‘Ungentlemanly Warfare’

Despite her privileged upbringing, Noor was born to resist: Her great-great-great grandfather, Tipu Sultan, was an 18th century Muslim ruler of a kingdom in southern India called Mysore. He was killed in battle in 1799 after refusing to bow to British colonial rule.

Noor spent the beginning of WWII training as a nurse with the Red Cross in France. In 1940, she and her mother and sister fled by boat to England. They escaped France right before the government surrendered to Hitler.

Once in the UK, Noor joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force — the female branch of the Royal Air Force — as a wireless operator. Wireless operators were tasked with intercepting and interpreting Morse code messages. Noor’s work quickly attracted the attention of the Special Operations Executive — a secret elite organization founded to aid resistance fighters and counteract what Winston Churchill called the Germans’ “ungentlemanly warfare.”

In 1943, the Special Operations Executive sent Noor to occupied Paris to work as a radio operator, dispatching coded messages between the English and French resistance movements. She was the first female wireless operator sent to France during the Nazi occupation.

Ordered to ‘Set Europe Ablaze’

Noor’s unassuming outward demeanor belied her bravery. Irene Warner, an auxiliary nurse during the war and who trained with Noor in Edinburgh, describes her to the Guardian, saying, “She was very quiet, very shy and often wore a nervous smile.”

Perhaps it was this nice façade that caused her commanders with the Special Operations Executive to underestimate her: In a training report, her supervisors describe her as “not over-burdened with brains” and “unsuited to work in her field.”

In Paris, Noor had the chance to prove her mettle. Codenamed Madeleine, she and her network of fellow spies were under orders from Winston Churchill to “set Europe ablaze.”

But the Germans infiltrated Noor’s network of spies one week after she arrived. Her commanders urged her to return home to England, but Noor refused. Instead, she ran a cell of spies across Paris for three months, constantly changing identities and evading capture by the Germans.

She escaped the totalitarian regime for only so long. A French woman soon betrayed her, and the Nazis sent Noor to Pforzheim prison in Germany.

Liberté or Death

Noor’s involvement with the Special Operations Executive didn’t come from love of country, but from a hatred of fascism. Her principles sustained her during her 10-month imprisonment. Left in solitary confinement and repeatedly tortured, beaten and starved, Noor never revealed information to the Germans. She tried to escape twice, causing German soldiers to label her as “highly dangerous.”

The Germans transferred Noor and three other female Special Operations Executive agents to Dachau concentration camp in September 1944. There, she faced the firing squad and uttered her last word: Liberté. Like her great-great-great grandfather, Noor died raging against an oppressive regime.

The George Cross is the second highest award of the United Kingdom honors system. Noor received the prize posthumously in 1949 —to date, she is one of only three female recipients. The French honored Noor with the Croix de Guerre.

In 2012, the UK erected a memorial to Noor in Gordon Square, where she used to sit quietly and read in the months leading up to her final mission. Noor’s statue was England’s first standalone memorial to an Asian woman.

In 2014, to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day and what would have been Noor’s 100th birthday, PBS released a documentary chronicling her life titled “Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story.”

Noor’s biographer, Shrabani Basu, writes that Noor’s fight with the Gestapo “showed her inner strength and her courage, her immense courage and resilience.” She adds:

“It’s very inspiring, especially given the troubled times that we live in. It is important to remember these qualities and values.”

History sweeps aside the Muslim community’s contributions to World War II, but if we are careful, Noor Inayat Khan’s heroism will never be forgotten.