Peninsula of Lies by Edward Ball

In Peninsula of Lies, National Book Award–winning author Edward Ball uncovers the remarkable true story of Dawn Langley Simmons, whose life challenged ideas about gender, race, identity, and social convention in twentieth-century Charleston, South Carolina.
 
Born in England and later settling in Charleston, Dawn became part of the city's old-society world before undergoing gender reassignment surgery and marrying an African American man—an interracial marriage that defied the conventions of the era. Her later claim that she had given birth to a daughter added another extraordinary and controversial chapter to her story.
 
Drawing on research, interviews, and the complicated record Dawn left behind, Ball investigates which parts of her remarkable story can be documented and which remain uncertain. The result is part biography, part social history, and part investigation into the elusive nature of identity and truth.
 
❤️ Why You’ll Love It
A fascinating piece of lesser-known American social history
Explores gender, race, class, and identity in the twentieth-century South
Reads partly like a biography and partly like an investigation
Centers on an extraordinary and controversial real-life figure
Examines the complicated line between documented history and personal mythology
🎯 Perfect For
Readers of unusual biographies and true stories
Fans of Southern history
Readers interested in LGBTQ+ history and gender history
Those interested in Charleston and South Carolina history
Readers fascinated by complicated historical figures and disputed personal histories