Your parents' life, written as a family memoir — in their own voice.
A private biographer listens, researches, and writes; then we design and print the book for every branch of the family. They tell the stories. We do everything else.
What a family memoir is
One life, told in its own voice, and written down properly.
A family memoir is the story of one life — the childhood house, the work, the war, the crossing, the marriage, the reasons behind every choice the family now takes for granted. Some call the person who writes it a memoir ghostwriter. We prefer private biographer, because most of the work is listening.
Over a series of recorded conversations we draw the story out at the narrator's pace. Between sessions we research the world around it: the town, the records, the history that explains why things happened as they did. Then we write, in the narrator's own words wherever we can, and the family reads and corrects every chapter before anything is printed.
Our particular strength is the part of the story that began somewhere else. When a life starts in Hungary or Central Europe, we read the parish registers, emigration papers, and local histories in their original languages, so the early chapters rest on facts rather than half-remembered names.
Everything between the first question and the printed book
One commission covers the listening, the research, the writing, and the book itself. You never have to coordinate a writer, a researcher, and a printer.
The conversations
Recorded interviews in person or by video, paced for the narrator. The recordings and transcripts stay with the family.
The history around it
The archival work behind the memories — records, maps, and the history that shaped each turning point, in the old country and the new.
The book
A hardcover memoir with the family's photographs and documents, designed and printed in as many copies as the family needs.
Five steps, at a pace that suits the narrator
Other ways to keep the story
What families ask before they begin
How much does a family memoir cost?
Commissions begin at $10,000. The final figure depends on the number of conversations, the depth of the research, and the number of printed copies, and we agree it in writing before any work begins.
How long does it take?
Usually six to nine months from the first interview to the printed books. If time is short, tell us: we can record first and write afterward.
Where do the interviews take place?
Wherever the narrator is most comfortable — at home in person, or by video call. We work with families in the United States, the United Kingdom, and across Europe.
What if my parent's memory is fading?
Then it is worth starting soon. Shorter sessions, old photographs, and the help of other family members often bring back more than anyone expects, and research can fill in what memory cannot.
Who owns the recordings and the book?
Your family does. We never publish, share, or reuse a family's story.
Which language is the book written in?
English or Hungarian — whichever your family will read.
Start while the story can still be told firsthand
A first conversation commits you to nothing. Tell us whose story it is, and we'll tell you how we would approach it.
Reserve a first conversation