How it works

One question a week. A year later, a book.

Wren texts or calls your parent with one good question each week. They just talk. We turn it into a hardcover book.

Give the giftSee a finished sample

An older man smiling as he replies to a text message on his porch

What did a Saturday look like when you were eight?

Start to finish

Six steps, and only the first one is yours.

After that, Wren does the asking, our team does the making, and your parent just talks.

1
Step 1. You, today
You give the gift
Pick a plan, then tell us a little about the person you’re giving it to.
- Choose a plan. Heirloom ($399) or Legacy ($799).
- Tell us about them. Where they grew up, who’s who in the family, and anything Wren should go easy on.
- Pick a start date. Their birthday, a holiday, or this Sunday.
- Add the people who’ll follow along. Brothers, sisters, grandkids.
Some people tell them in person first. Some let Wren be the surprise.
Step 2. Their first week
Wren says hello
On the start date, Wren sends a first message. It says who set this up, says plainly that it’s an AI, and asks which day suits them.
Then it’s one question a week. They answer when they like, in a line or in pages. Wren reads what they said and asks what a good listener would ask next.
However they like to talk
Text message
Plain texts, on any mobile phone.
WhatsApp
If that’s where the family already chats.
Phone call
Wren calls at a time they pick. They just talk.
Landline
Yes, the one on the kitchen wall.
All they need is a phone. No app, no password, no account.
WWren · Text message
Sunday 9:31 AM
Hi Peggy, this is Wren. Anne set this up for you as a birthday present.
I'm an AI, not a person. My job is to ask about your life and listen. One question a week, answered whenever you like.
Is Sunday a good day for you?
12:48 PM
Anne did mention this. Sunday is fine after church
So you are a computer?
I am. What you tell me goes into a book for your family, and a real person reads it before anything is printed.
Well alright. Go ahead and ask
Here's the first one. What's the first thing you remember?
My fathers boots on the porch. He came home from the war when I was 4 and I didnt know who he was
I hid behind the stove for a week
Behind the stove! What finally got you to come out?
He sat on the kitchen floor every night and played Red River Valley on his harmonica. Never said a word to me. Just played
By Friday I was in his lap
That's a patient man. Is there a photo of him from back then? You can just take a picture of the print with your phone.
Hold on its in the hall closet
1:27 PM
Mama and Daddy 1943 before he shipped out. Its in rough shape sorry
Can you see it ok
Clear as day. What a handsome pair.
The coffee ring was not me
I believe you. We'll mend the crack and the stain before it goes in the book. Same time next Sunday?
Yes. Thank you dear. Love, Peggy
Sunday 9:30 AM
Morning, Peggy. Did your father ever play that harmonica for anyone else?
SamplePeggy’s first week with Wren
Rather talk than type? Wren can call instead. The call goes into the book just the same.
Step 3. Whenever a story needs one
Photos, straight from the shoebox
When a story mentions a photo, Wren asks for it. They can hold their phone over the old print, take a picture and send it right in the chat.
Or they can mail us the originals. We scan them carefully and send them back.
Either way, we restore every photo they share. Fading, creases, torn corners, the odd coffee ring.
Before
After
An example restoration: the photo Peggy sent in her first week (sample).
Step 4. All year
The family follows along
Everyone you invited can read new stories as they come in. It’s a nice thing to find on a Tuesday.
If someone has always wondered about something, they can suggest a question. Wren works it into a conversation when the moment is right, and says who asked.
Suggested by the family
Sample
“Ask her about the Patsy Cline tape on the Grand Canyon trip.”
Tommy, her son
“Did she ever get in trouble at school? Like real trouble?”
Lily, her granddaughter
A few Sundays later
Tommy asked me to ask you about a Patsy Cline tape. Something about Oklahoma?
Oh he would
That tape got stuck in the deck and played for 900 miles. Walt knew every word by Amarillo
5
Step 5. When you’re ready
We make the book, the website and the reenactments
Print whenever you like. Many families print after three to six months and keep going for a second volume.
- The book. Our editors shape the conversations into chapters, in your parent’s own words, with their restored photos. You both read the draft and approve it before anything is printed.
- The website. A private site with their chapters, a timeline, their photos and, with Legacy, recordings of their voice.
- The reenactments. Cinematic recreations of moments nobody photographed, built from the details they remembered. Always labelled as recreations.
Recreation
“It was pouring rain and this tall boy came in soaked to the bone, glasses all fogged up, and ordered coffee, black, no sugar.”
A recreation made from Peggy’s story (sample). Not a real photograph.
Step 6. The day it arrives
Books on the table, website in the group chat
The hardcover books come to your door. The website goes live, and you invite whoever you like.
Then someone opens a book at the table and reads a chapter out loud, and a story nobody had heard before gets told twice in one night.