Breaking Night is an unforgettable and beautifully written story of one young woman's indomitable spirit to survive and prevail, against all odds.įrom runaway to Harvard student, Murray tells an engaging, powerfully motivational story about turning her life around after growing up the neglected child of drug addicts. Liz squeezed four years of high school into two, while homeless won a New York Times scholarship and made it into the Ivy League.

When Liz's mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny and go back to high school, often completing her assignments in the hallways and subway stations where she slept. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep. At age fifteen, Liz found herself on the streets. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls' home.

Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. With these impressive achievements under her belt, she gains enough independence and, crucially, perspective to forgive her family members while still holding them accountable for their actions.In the vein of The Glass Castle, Breaking Night is the stunning memoir of a young woman who at age fifteen was living on the streets, and who eventually made it into Harvard. She works hard, graduates high school, and wins acceptance to Harvard University. In the end, Liz succeeds in reconciling the two “halves” of her early life: her struggle to succeed and her struggle to make peace with her family. But she also feels extraordinarily guilty for abandoning her family and making her own way in life-especially after her mother dies of AIDS. At times, she hates her family for treating her so neglectfully. However, Liz is also emotionally scarred by her relationship with her parents and her sister, Lisa Murray. As a result of her parents’ neglectful behavior, Liz grows up knowing how to take care of herself: she’s possessed of incredible willpower, and forces herself never to give up. Her parents, Peter Finnerty and Jean Murray, are drug addicts who often choose to spend their money on drugs rather than food or other necessities for their children. All three of these trends play a pivotal role in Liz’s life. Liz grows up in the Bronx in the 1980s and 1990s, at a time when the Bronx is one of the most dangerous parts of New York City, when the AIDS crisis is claiming lives every day, and when cocaine, heroin, and other drugs are tearing families apart. Liz Murray is the author, protagonist, and narrator of Breaking Night, the story of her life leading up to her acceptance to Harvard University.

Breaking Night by Liz Murray