14. Glorious Letters from My Sweetheart

Chapter 14: Glorious Letters from my Sweetheart, uses Norah’s diaries to explore the development of her relationship with Danny during 1942. The chapter opens with events in Norah’s life that she likely shared with Danny: joining the WJACS (Women’s Junior Air Corps); the bombs that dropped on Rolls Royce at Derby and later on Castle Donington; her friend Connie’s marriage to her soldier boyfriend. The chapter then moves on to focus on moments of disappointment, when Danny’s letters did not live up to Norah’s romantic expectations. I discuss various understandings of romantic love, as defined by biological anthropologists, historians and feminists, to explore how cultural developments in the interwar and wartime years shaped Norah’s desires and expectations.