Elizabeth L. Silver

Elizabeth L Silver is the author of the new novel, The Majority, as well as the memoir, The Tincture of Time: A Memoir of (Medical) Uncertainty, and the novel, The Execution of Noa P. Singleton. Her work has been called “fantastic” by the Washington Post and “masterful” by The Wall Street Journal, has been published in seven languages, and optioned for film. The Execution of Noa P. Singleton was an Amazon Best Book of the Year, the Amazon Best Debut of the Month, a Kirkus Best Book of the Summer, Kansas City Star Best Book of the Year, and selection for the Target Emerging Author Series. The Tincture of Time was featured on PBS and NPR, and was an O Magazine/Oprah’s “Ten Books to Pick up Now."

My Q&A with Silver:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The title has several meanings that I hope will become clear as people read the book. A majority opinion in the law is literally the judicial decision handed down by a judge or Supreme Court Justice that becomes the law. Also, women are the majority population of America, but the minority in power, and so the novel explores both of these themes as it imagines the life of a first fictional woman on the Supreme Court.

What's in a name?

Sylvia Olin Bernstein, or S.O.B. is the narrator of the story, and her name and initials become a large talking point in the book. The initials make it clear who the inspiration is, but Sylvia’s name takes on great meaning as “the contemptuous S.O.B.” and she is forced to confront her past and future based on the meaning the external world puts on her by nature of her name and its meanings.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I hope my teenage reader self would be proud of this novel. Of my novels, this one is probably closest to home, so she would be less surprised by the subject matter of this one than my other books, I think.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I think it’s probably more difficult to write beginnings than endings because you are starting from nothing. By the time you’re ready for your ending, you’ve had years working on the book, living with the characters, and are likely working toward a specific goal. That said, sometimes I’ve taken endings or portions of endings and turned them into beginnings after the fact. Beginnings, as they are written and as they appear in a book, are rarely the same. It takes hundreds of pages, sometimes, to write your way to the “beginning.”

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

It might be a bit obvious with this one, but Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O’Connor and other women on the Supreme Court, directly inspired this novel. Meanwhile, elements of Jewish history and culture, such as the shiva, or customs for how to honor someone who has recently passed, also inspired other parts of this book. Many family members who survived the Holocaust are also inspirations for the character of Mariana and Sylvia’s pull to pursue more education.

Learn more about the book and author at Elizabeth L. Silver's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Execution of Noa P. Singleton.

My Book, The Movie: The Execution of Noa P. Singleton.

The Page 99 Test: The Tincture of Time.

The Page 69 Test: The Majority.

My Book, The Movie: The Majority.

--Marshal Zeringue