Waiting for Dawn

A bestselling author reveals how to prioritize and care for yourself when uncomfortable change is thrust upon you.

Lee guides you through the hard times that arise unexpectedly and disrupt your life for indeterminate periods. Uncertainty and fear impact how you interact with the world and understand your place in it. You manage the loneliness and isolation by convincing others that you are fine. Lee debunks the idea that you must force positivity and, instead, helps you learn how to hold compassion for yourself in hard times.

Through rich, revelatory prose, Lee assists you in navigating life's unstable and overwhelming moments. Using research and her personal experiences, she argues that self-preservation is necessary when life is at its worst. If you are experiencing pain, chronic stress, or loneliness or are burdened with self-doubt, Waiting for Dawn brings you from a place of instability to hope. Lee shares her two-year journey battling loss and illness--the death of her mother-in-law, ongoing sickness, and the emotional challenges she endured--that taught her that healing is about finding your own unique way through the darkness.

Waiting for Dawn provides a compass to help you rediscover your worth and identify how to live well. These dark periods are necessary for things to grow and transform, but it never stays dark forever.

"Waiting for Dawn is nothing short of a miracle and just what we need right now in our current moment. When times seem to drag us into a grey mist that we don't know how to navigate out of, her words push us to find our own paths forward into a clear understanding of what we need to feel better and more at ease." ―Maggie Smith, New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful

Author: Marisa R. Lee
Publisher: Legacy Lit
Published: 04/07/2026
Pages: 244
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.61d
ISBN: 9781538783535

About the Author
Marisa Renee Lee is the award-winning and bestselling author of Grief is Love. She has been featured on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, in Vogue and The Atlantic, and NPR, among other outlets, for her work on grief and healing.

As a rabble-rouser of social healing, Lee has founded and led several organizations and initiatives focused on equity and healing. Lee previously served as a deputy director in the Obama White House and currently serves as the CEO of Beacon Advisors, a social-impact consulting firm. She is a graduate of Harvard College and lives with her husband Matt and son, Bennett, in New York.