Starting with the scant biographical information available about Germain’s adolescence, Dora Musielak began to piece together a story of a young Parisian girl who discovers mathematics at the beginning of 1789, a time that coincides with the start of the bloody French Revolution. Armed with her own experience and love for mathematics, Dora Musielak develops a fictional character inspired by Sophie Germain. Using the format of a personal diary Musielak writes how the shy 13-year-old girl, who has been taught basic arithmetic by her father, begins to read about the ancient scholars and becomes fascinated by mathematics. Without a tutor to guide her Sophie reads everything relevant in her father’s library, and the more she reads the more she wants to learn mathematics. As the French Revolution builds up she begins to master algebra and arithmetic, and her hunger for knowledge intensifies.  

Dora Musielak’s account sets in perspective the challenges of learning alone. Her fictional character Sophie, although timid and soft-spoken, is resourceful and develops the courage to approach those who might provide her with the tools to learn more.