Breaking Night

This memoir of a young woman's indomitable spirit to survive and prevail, against all odds, reveals her journey from homelessness to Harvard.

Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. 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. At age fifteen, Liz found herself on the streets. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep.


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. Liz squeezed four years of high school into two, while homeless; won a New York Times scholarship; and made it into the Ivy League.

"Liz Murray shows us that the human spirit has infinite ability to grow and can never be limited by circumstance. Breaking Night is a beautifully written, heartfelt memoir that will change the way you look at your community, the obstacles in your own life, and the American Dream." —Robert Redford
"It's not just that Liz Murray's story is astounding and, at times, incredibly heartbreaking. It's not just that her grace alights every page. It's that she writes her story as a true writer does: with compassion and love for the humanity she experienced. That's the real reason Murray's book matters." —Kerry Cohen, author of Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity