Inspired by history, a riveting novel of love and friendship, motherhood and ambition, and one woman’s fight to be a Supreme Court justice.Half of the United States is waiting for Justice Sylvia Olin Bernstein to die. The other half is praying for her to hold on. At 83, “the contemptuous S.O.B.” doesn’t have much time left. What she has is a story, one she has wrested from the grip of history to tell herself—of how she rose to her historic position on the Supreme Court, and the barriers she broke along the way.
Told over fifty years, from losing her mother at a young age, to falling in love, to navigating an unplanned pregnancy and motherhood, to learning how to spar with a sexist mentor, Sylvia’s personal story reveals the intimate truth about who she was as she ascended to her modern throne: not just a brilliant mind, but a daughter, a best friend, a wife, mother, and advocate. While caught in a dramatic tug of war between the competing desires of success and family, truth and convenience, progress and patience, she will be given a chance to change the course of American history – and give voice, at last, to the majority.
Set against the vibrant sweep of the 20th century, THE MAJORITY brings us into the sacrifices, heartaches, and complex emotional life of a powerful woman ahead of her time, whose life and work turn out to have supreme stakes.
"Half of the United States is waiting for Justice Sylvia Olin Bernstein to die. The other half is praying for her to hold on. At 83, "the contemptuous S.O.B." doesn't have much time left. What she has is a story-of how she rose to her historic position on the Supreme Court, and the personal sacrifices she made along the way. From falling helplessly in love in law school, to navigating an unplanned pregnancy and motherhood, to figuring out how to spar with a sexist mentor and win, Sylvia's intimate story shows who she was before she wore the robe: a daughter, a best friend, a lover, a wife, a mother. Her personal life may have been caught in a dramatic tug of war between the competing desires of love and morality, truth and convenience, ambition and kindness, but her stubbornness, zeal, and persistent hope would change the course of American history. Weaving vivid historical events into the titillating emotional life of a fascinating fictional character, Elizabeth Silver immerses readers in a nuanced drama that turns out to have supreme stakes"--
