How can I capture my grandparents' life story?

The best time is while they can still tell it themselves.

The best way to capture your grandparents' life story is to start the storytelling now, before the memories fade, and turn the answers into a lasting form. There are four common routes: write it down, record it, fill in a ready-made memory set, or have a book made from it. Which fits best depends on how much time you have and whether you want something beautiful to hold at the end.

Why the right moment is now

Family stories are lost faster than people think, often within just a few generations, because nobody wrote them down while there was still time (more on how this happens). That isn't a dramatic line but the most common reason grandchildren later say: "I wish I'd asked grandma." The best time to capture a life story is while the person can still tell it themselves.

The four routes compared

There are four ways to keep a grandparent's story, and the real difference between them is who does the work.

1. Write it down yourself. Free. A notebook or a document, filled in as you ask them questions over tea. It costs nothing, and it often stays a loose collection nobody finishes.

2. Record their voice. Free on any phone. If you want the recordings turned into a book, Remento ($99 for a year, including one hardcover) writes up what they say and prints it with QR codes back to the audio. Nothing else keeps the way they actually speak. Remento works in English and Spanish, and ships to the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

3. Let them write it. A fill-in journal from a bookshop, or Storyworth (from $59), which emails them a question every week for a year and prints their answers as a book of up to 480 pages. Both are lovely for a grandparent who enjoys writing and will keep it up.

4. Have a book made about them. Someone else does the writing. StoryTerrace sends a professional writer to interview them and write a full memoir (the UK Classic package is £2,600 and takes around five months). Memolio is a set of questions about their life, answered in around 30 minutes, by the grandparent themselves or by the family, typed or spoken. Their answers become a book of watercolour paintings of their actual life, in about 2 weeks.

Prices checked on each company's own website in September 2026.

What Memolio takes off your hands

The most common reason life stories don't get captured isn't lack of love but lack of time. Memolio takes the laborious part off your hands: you spend around 30 minutes answering questions on a web form (voice messages welcome), upload a few photos, and a 24-page, full-colour hardcover comes out of it. The illustrations are painted by AI, but the story is deeply human: Memolio invents nothing, it captures what was actually told. You review every page before it prints.

The whole family can be in the story: grandchildren, children, partner. With a photo we paint them true to life; without one, a few words will do. You only need a photo of the person the book is about.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I start capturing my grandparents' life story?

Start with a single conversation and one photo: ask about a specific moment, not the whole life at once. The rest follows almost on its own from the first answers; what matters is that you begin now.

Can I have a life story written for me?

Yes. You don't have to write it yourself: you share what you know, and Memolio turns it into an illustrated book about your grandparents' life. That takes the writing and designing off your hands.

What if I only know a few stories?

That's enough for a start: you don't have to know everything. Memolio doesn't pad with fiction; a shorter, true book beats a made-up one. You can ask mum, dad or the grandparents themselves about the gaps.

What does it cost to capture the life story as a book?

A Memolio book costs incl. VAT, free delivery. You get a 24-page, full-colour A4 hardcover.

What Memolio does differently

Most personalised grandparent books (Hooray Heroes, Wonderbly, Librio, Letterfest) drop the grandparent's name and a lookalike character into a fixed, made-up story. Memolio is the opposite: it puts their real story in the book. The illustrations are painted by AI, but the narrative is deeply human, built from the real photos and memories you share, and you approve every page before anything prints.