Critical Praise

[Liz Murray] reminds us that the greatest acts of love and failure can occur side by side; that isolation and loss can give way to accomplishment and promise. She offers the awesome hope that, regardless of its past, a life can go beyond endurance and reach for triumph. She leaves us with the memory of a child who clung to and refused to surrender the dignity of her soul.

—Andrew Bridge, author of the New York Times bestseller HOPE’S BOY

As much as it is a memoir, Breaking Night is a primer on how poverty and drug abuse create a heartbreaking underclass of children, one that goes largely unnoticed. By the truly uplifting ending, Liz Murray has shown us the worst, and the very best, of America.

—Haven Kimmel, author of A GIRL NAMED ZIPPY and SHE GOT UP OFF THE COUCH

BREAKING NIGHT reads more like an adventure story than an addiction-morality tale. It’s a white-knuckle account of survival…By age 6, Murray knew how to mainline drugs (though she never took them) and how to care for her strung-out parents. She showed uncanny maturity, even as a child, and later managed to avoid that malady of teenagers and memoir writers, self-pity…Murray’s stoicism has been hard-earned; it serves her well as a writer. Breaking Night itself is full of heart, without a sliver of ice, and deeply moving.

—The New York Times Book Review

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 your community, the obstacles in your own life and the American Dream. An inspiration, a must read.

—Robert Redford