The book was published in 1992 and republished in 2008. In addition, Katherine authored "The Live and Loves of a Transgendered Lesbian Librarian".
"Katherine's Diary: The Story of a Transsexual" by Katherine Cummings is a profoundly moving and candid memoir that traces the author’s journey from childhood curiosity to full self-realization as a transgender woman. From the age of five, Katherine, born John, experienced an intense sense of incongruence with the gender assigned at birth. Growing up in a close-knit family on a coral island in the Pacific, where sea breezes rustled through the palms and Pacific rollers broke gently on the reef, she felt a compelling need to be female.
The elegant formal gowns worn by her mother and the women who visited their home fascinated her, and she began to recognize the rigid roles society imposed on boys and girls. These early observations sparked daydreams of a magical transformation that would allow her to permanently live as a girl and partake in the experiences she admired. This desire intensified after the family moved to Australia with the outbreak of World War II, and at the age of thirteen, Katherine began secretly borrowing her sister’s clothing, experimenting with cosmetics, and photographing herself dressed as a girl. By her seventeenth birthday, she had fully embraced this secret persona during a "fancy dress" celebration, experiencing joy in a way that went unnoticed by her loving but unsuspecting parents.
