A sketch of Bilat Pyan Than , from “Perfect Hostage”

New York furnished another family friend of even greater importance in her life. In her youth , Ma Than E had been a famous Burmese beauty. Born into a Baptist Christian family in 1908 , she gained a place at Rangon University. Then, like Khin Kyi, she enrolled at a teacher training college, before winning a scholarship to pursue her studies in England.