Breaking Night

by Liz Murray (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $9.04

  Summer 1985, in the downtrodden Bronx neighbourhood of New York. At just 5 years old this would be the last time that Liz Murray could remember feeling like a child. In the years that would follow she would be consistently absent from school, kept awake with the pain of hunger or from waiting up until the small hours for her drug addicted parents to return home parents who spent what little money their government dependent family had on getting their next fix. Barely managing to hold her family together and outcast for her dirty appearance, Liz was certain that dreams of a better life were just that. t the age of 15, she found herself homeless with nowhere to turn but the rough streets, scraping by eating garbage and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep. But when her mother died of AIDS a year later, Liz s life changed forever. Determined to take control, she pulled herself back from the brink and set about picking up the pieces of her life- Starting with finishing high school. Without a stable home and while supporting herself and her sister, Liz defied all the odds when at the age of eighteen she was awarded a once unthinkable scholarship to Harvard. old wi

• Used

  Hardcover
  2011

  $4.23

  Liz Murray never really had a chance in life. Born to a drug-addicted father who was in and out of prison, and an equally dependent mother who was in and out of mental institutions, she seemed destined to become just another tragic statistic. Another life wasted on the brutal streets of New York. By the age of 15, Liz found herself homeless with nowhere to turn but the tough streets, riding subways all night for a warm place to sleep and foraging through dumpsters for food. But when her mother died of AIDS a year later, Liz's life changed for ever. With no education, with no chance at a job or a home, she realised that only the most astonishing of turnarounds could stop her heading all the way down the same path her parents took. And so she set her mind to overcoming what seemed like impossible odds - and in the process, achieved something extraordinary. Told with astounding sincerity, Breaking Night is the breathtaking and inspirational story of how a young women, born into a world without hope, used every ounce of strength and determination to steer herself towards a brighter future. Beautifully written, it is a poignant, evocative and stirring portrait of struggle, desperation, forgiveness and survival.