12. Went over Daleacre: The Likely and the Plausible

Chapter 12: Went over Daleacre: the Likely and the Plausible, focuses on Danny’s visit to Norah’s home at Easter 1942. I ask what we can know about their relationship, given the absence of his letters (Norah deliberately destroyed them in 1952) and the nature of her short diary entries. I engage with discussions of ‘conditionals’ – the ‘might haves’ and the ‘probables’ – to discuss the ‘unknowable territory’ (Ankersmit) of history. I can only imagine Danny’s visit: his evening spent with Norah’s family, his and Norah’s walks together, and his response to Jim’s letter, which arrived during his stay. Drawing on the idea of walking as a life-story research method, I imagine talking with Norah on a stroll over Daleacre, where she walked with Danny in 1942.