Dawn: A Charleston Legend [Hardcover]

Dawn Langley Simmons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

Following gender modification in 1968, Gordon became Dawn and married a black Charlestonian and was forced to move from South Carolina to escape hostility.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

DAWN: A Charleston Legend At birth in Sussex, England, Dawn Langley Simmons was identified as a male and was named Gordon Langley Hall. Although she lived as a man for almost 30 years with what she calls her "deep,dark secret," she was, in fact a female with androgynous features. Following gender modification in 1968, Gordon Langley Hall became Dawn Pepita Langley Hall. She married a black Charlestonian, John-Paul Simmons, had a daughter, and was forced to move from South Carolina to New York to escape hostilities directed at her interracial marriage. From her childhood vacations at Sissinghurst, where her mentors, Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, encouraged her first writings, to her successful career as a writer in New York and Charleston, Dawn Langley Simmons has experienced an extraordinary life of creativity, spent in the company of accomplished writers, actors and artists, including Dame Margaret Rutherford, who adopted her and was regarded by the author as her true "mother." Dawn: A Charleston Legend is a moving, unforgettable true story of love, adversity, tragedy, and, ultimately, the triumph of the human spirit. Back inside flap: Dawn Langley Simmons (nee Gordon Langley Hall) is the author of some eighteen books, including a biography of her surrogate mother, Margaret Rutherford-- A Blithe Spirit. Her other writings include biographies of Rosalyn Carter and Mary Todd Lincoln; Vinnie Ream-- The Girl Who Sculptured Lincoln; Willian, Father of the Netherlands; Osceola; and The Sawdust Trail: A History of American Evangelism. She lives in Hudson, New York, near her dauther Natasha Simmns and grandchildren Damian Patrick Hall Simmons and Tamara Miguel Hall Simmons.

From the Back Cover

As I witnessed the lives in this family, I began to understand the bonds of love and something deeper that allowed the beauty in all of them to flourish-- whether is was in a welfare hotel or a meadow by the river. Gordon had suffered from the isolation of being different and Dawn would not let the world repeat that on her family. Throughout the cruelest twists of fate, Dawn would always say, "That's alright dearie, it will all come out right in the end." This book is a testament to that and an insight into what it is to be human.
Dena Crane

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wyrick & Company (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941711161
• ISBN-13: 978-0941711166
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #778,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Transgender

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A STUNNING LIFE OF CONTRASTS, August 1, 1998

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[e-mail] (Auckland,New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dawn: A Charleston Legend (Hardcover)

Dawn Langley Simmons life story in this incredible autobiography is one full of contrasts. Born and identified as a boy and named Gordon in Britain,she eventually was able to have the necessary surgery in America to become the woman she was intended to be. As a writer Gordon emigrated to America and mixed with the rich and famous and the upper echeleons of society. He became very wealthy in his own right and from a legacy left to him. He was able to buy an historic house in Charleston and have the surgery required to become a woman. Dawn then met and married a poor black man,and faced a future of racism and abuse from the community, eventually having to leave Charleston and after many shifts becoming very poor herself and joining the black community of her husband. She gives birth to a daughter and is now a grandmother. But her husband can be described as a scoundrel,having had affairs,almost killing Dawn with his abuse and then being diagnosed with schitzophrenia. The ! fact that Dawn could be so forgiving is a testament to her strength and character. I first read about Dawn in a magazine in 1997 and spent a very long time tracking down this book,eventually getting it from Amazon.com. Reading of Dawn's British roots in Heathfield and Tunbridge Wells was so neat as all of my relatives come from that part of the world too,so the places she mentioned I was able to picture in my mind. This book is a very good story of an incredible life of unbelievable contrasts. How many people could cope with what Dawn has been through and come out such a lovely person.