A searching and emotionally intimate memoir (The New York Times) told with a candor never
before undertaken by a sitting Justice. This powerful defense of empathy (The Washington Post)
is destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery. The first Hispanic and
third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant
American icon. In this story of human triumph that hums with hope and exhilaration (NPR) she
recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench a journey that offers an
inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in
oneself. Here is the story of a precarious childhood with an alcoholic father (who would die
when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother and of the refuge a little girl took
from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when
she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must
ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to
survive and soon imagined a path to a different life. With only television characters for her
professional role models and little understanding of what was involved she determined to
become a lawyer a dream that would sustain her on an unlikely course from valedictorian of
her high school class to the highest honors at Princeton Yale Law School the New York County
District Attorney's office private practice and appointment to the Federal District Court
before the age of forty. Along the way we see how she was shaped by her invaluable mentors a
failed marriage and the modern version of extended family she has created from cherished
friends and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes America's infinite possibilities
are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book.
