On Sale July 11, 2023
“History is only as good as the historians, and I’m no longer trusting them to tell my story.”
A riveting novel of motherhood and ambition, love and friendship, 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 eighty-three, “the contemptuous S.O.B.” doesn’t have much time left. What she does have is her story.
Covering the span of fifty years, Sylvia’s personal account reveals the intimate truth about a woman who is not just a brilliant mind but a daughter, a best friend, a wife, and a mother. Caught in a tug-of-war between career and family, truth and convenience, progress and patience, she will be given a chance to change the course of American history.
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.
Press & Reviews
“A story of secrets, impossible choices, and how we negotiate the uneasy space between our personal and public lives. Like Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife, The Majority transforms the life of a singular woman into a compelling narrative that illuminates the most important themes playing out in America today.”—Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters
“This is Justice Sylvia Olin Bernstein’s story but make no mistake, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hammering her heavenly gavel in approval. The Majority is replete with raw emotional context, perception, and humanity that resonates far beyond the page. Sure to be one of the most unforgettable reads of the year. It already holds that distinction for me.” —Sarah McCoy, New York Times bestselling author of Mustique Island and Marilla of Green Gables
“With the story of one remarkable woman’s life, The Majority reveals how the lives of ALL women have been altered over the course of the last eighty-some years. Exploring important questions about the sacrifices we both should and shouldn’t make for those we care about, Silver has written a novel at once intimate and epic, about how we are changed by experience, and how the people we love are central to these transformations.” —Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California
“The Majority is the great American novel you will urge your daughters and sisters and friends to read. From post-war Brooklyn to the gold-trimmed curtains of the Supreme Court, the story of Sylvia Olin Bernstein is rendered with such clarity and compassion that readers will reconsider everything they thought they knew about the remarkable women who transformed American history.” —Julia Fierro, author of Cutting Teeth and The Gypsy Moth Summer
“This book should be required reading. The Majority is a tiny hammer in Silver’s hand, undetectable and hovering overhead, the act of reading like a trigger breaking you apart over and over again. I was literally lost in The Majority and it changed me.”—Natashia Deon, NAACP-nominated author of Grace
“Surprisingly personal . . .The complexity of Sylvia’s background and the personal cost of her commitment make for a thought-provoking read with many echoes of a certain departed Supreme Court Justice also known by three initials.” —Janet Fitch, New York Times bestselling author of White Oleander and The Revolution of Marina M.
“Restored my faith in justice. I loved this novel.”—Lynn Steger Strong, author of Want