Peninsula of Lies: A True Story of Mysterious Birth and Taboo Love

by EdwardBall (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $41.83

  The life of Gordon Langley Hall was full of mystery and riddled with rumour and scandal. The illegitimate son of two servants at Sissinghurst Castle, (home of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson), he became the unexpected recipient of an American heiress's millions. He went on to become an author, writing several biographies including that of the eccentric English actress Margaret Rutherford (Miss Marple). But then he surprised his contemporaries by moving to Charleston, South Carolina, having a sex change, and reinventing himself as Dawn Langley Hall. The mystery deepened when Dawn married a young black mechanic in the racially charged atmosphere of South Carolina in the 1960s. Then she appeared in the streets of the town apparently pregnant and was seen several months later pushing a child in a pram...In this rollercoaster tale, Edward Ball, winner of the American National Book Award, unravels the mysteries surrounding this truly unique life.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2004

  $13.62

  Peninsula of Lies is an enthralling investigation of a bizarre life that begins in Kent, England with the birth of an illegitimate baby and ends in south Carolina, USA with a sex-change and a scandal. Edward Ball unwraps a mystery that has fascinated a succession of authors in the past decade. Who was Gordon Langley Hall, the illegitimate son of two servants at Sissinghurst Castle (home of author Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson, diplomat, author and politician)? Gordon becomes the recipient of the millions of an American heiress, author of biographies (including the eccentric English actress, Margaret Rutherford, the original screen 'Miss Marple'), and moves to Charleston, south Carolina. There Gordon changes sex and reinvents him/herself as Dawn Langley Hall. The mystery deepens when Dawn marries a young black mechanic (the matrons of the still-segregated Charleston are appalled), appears around the town apparantly pregnant a few months later claims that the daughter she is seen pushing around the town in a pram is actually her own. Edward Ball, who won the American National Book Award for Slaves in the Family, investigates Hall's story and in the final chapter offers his solution.