The memoir book

Two hours of talking.
A book that lasts.

The person you love talks, and that is all. The writing, the layout and the printing are ours. The book arrives at your door, hardcover.

Start the book

A fifteen minute call, to hear what their story is like.

  • They never write a line
  • They talk from their own armchair, on a video call or on the phone
  • They receive a hardcover book at home, with the family photographs inside

Families who get one order more copies it has happened with every family so far

A daughter holds the memoir book written for her mother
  • Delivered in 2 to 12 weeks
  • Money back on the first draft
  • The book stays private, and it stays theirs
The inside pages of the book: an old photograph on the left, the chapter on the right
Close up of the binding and the sewn page block An older woman reads her memoir book in an armchair

What arrives at your door

Not a file, not an album to fill in yourself. A finished book, printed and bound in hardcover, the kind that sits on a shelf and still gets opened in twenty years.

  • A hardcover book, A5 format, at least sixteen chapters
  • The family photographs laid out inside the story, not piled at the end
  • A cover designed around their story
  • The video recording of the interview
  • The eBook, for whoever in the family wants it on their phone
  • One full revision after the first draft

The guarantee. At the first draft, if they do not recognise themselves in their own story, we give back everything that has been paid. The book stays private and it stays theirs: it goes nowhere unless they decide so.

Start the book
Money back on the first draft
We ship abroad, wherever the family is
Secure payment, bank transfer or card
A person answers the phone, every time
How it works

The work is ours

We ask two hours of the person telling the story. Once, and it ends there.

An older man tells his story on the phone, sitting at his kitchen table
1

They talk

We call them and let them talk for two hours, from their own armchair. There is nothing to prepare: we bring the questions.

The inside pages of a memoir book, with an old photograph and the text of the chapter
2

We write

We turn the recording into a real book: chapters, photographs in the right places, a cover. They read it at their own pace, and whatever does not sound right we change.

A woman opens the parcel with the memoir book inside
3

It arrives

The hardcover book arrives at your door. Extra copies for children and grandchildren can be added whenever you want.

Every book is different, like every life

The title, the cover and the chapters come out of the interview. There are no templates to fill in. You choose the photograph on the cover, and the colour as well: if nobody asks for one, the book comes out in our ivory.

Five hardcover memoir books with different titles and colours

Stories are not lost all at once

They go one piece at a time. The name of the village their grandfather left. The year the shop opened. How they really met, not the version told at the dinner table.

While there is still someone to tell them, they can be written down. After that, all that is left are the pieces each of us remembers in their own way.

Three generations of a family read the memoir book together
The method

The questions come from a person, not from a form

The interview is led by a professional, following a track built over months of work. It is there to reach the things nobody ever asks about: the school years, the first job, the people who are gone, the choices the family has never talked about.

Whoever is telling the story also decides what stays out: anything they would rather not see written down never reaches the book.

About us

The moment all of this is for

It is not the parcel arriving, and it is not the cover. It is the evening the book ends up in the hands of the person who told it, and they read themselves back in their own words.

From then on the story no longer depends on who remembers it. It is written down, and it belongs to the whole family.

An elderly mother and her daughter read the memoir book together
Read all the stories

What families tell us

The messages families sent us after the book arrived

Holding them in my hands

Thank you for the books. What an emotion, holding them in my hands.
A whole life, written down for the grandchildren. She later ordered more copies and introduced us to another family

I could not have done it

It is a huge piece of work, and without your help I could not have done it.
A story running from Calabria to Germany and England

So fast

Thank you, you have been so fast.
His own story, told in the first person

Always professional

Always kind, always professional.
A manuscript left in a drawer for years, taken through to publication

Quoted in full. The names stay private, like the books.

A woman holds up her published book
Already written the book?

We publish it

Some people come to us with a finished manuscript, sitting in a drawer for years, and no idea where to begin. We take it from there: we tidy up the text, design the cover and send it to print, in paperback and in digital.

From that day the book really exists: it has its own ISBN, always included, anyone can order it and it stays there for good. The book is theirs, the rights are theirs, and so is everything it earns.

Talk to us about publishing

Frequently asked questions

What if they do not feel up to being interviewed?
It happens, usually out of shyness or the fear of being boring. It is not a formal interview: it is a guided conversation where all they have to do is answer, and where what to tell and what to leave aside is decided as you go.
Do they have to write or record anything themselves?
Nothing at all. They talk, once. The transcription, the writing, the layout and the printing are ours.
How long before we have the book?
Between two and twelve weeks from the interview, agreed with you when we start. It depends on how much material comes out and how many photographs there are to include.
Do they need to be good with computers?
No. The interview happens over video call or on the phone, and we walk them through it if needed. Most of the people we interview are over seventy.
What if we do not like the book?
At the first draft, if they do not recognise themselves in their own story, we give back everything that has been paid. The book is yours and it stays private: it goes nowhere unless you decide otherwise.
Can the interview be in English?
Yes, and it often is. Many families live abroad while the parent still speaks Italian: in that case we interview in Italian and write the book in the language you choose, or in both.
Can I tell my own story, rather than a relative’s?
Yes, and it happens often. Many people want to leave their own account to their children or grandchildren. The service works in exactly the same way.
All the questions

Let us start with their story

A fifteen minute call: you tell us who you want the book to be about, and we tell you how we would write it.

Start the book