This book contains extracts from diaries written by my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother and my great-great-grandmother, in other words, the female line of the family on my mother’s side. Following on the paths taken in the diaries, I went in search of the places, houses and landscapes described in the diaries and which played a special role in our family. Most of them are places of longing that either no longer exist, or have changed considerably. I took copies of the diary pages with me and wrote my own entries across the lines, overwriting them with my own experiences and thoughts. My wish was to touch those lines, to retrace the words, to fathom them and at the same time cover and preserve their secret. That is the origin of these four double diaries.