Amanda turns hours of relaxed conversation into someone's life, written in their own voice, kept exactly how you want it: a beautiful hardback, the original recordings, or a digital copy.
“Nearly every person I speak to begins by telling me that there is nothing to tell. Not one of them has been right yet.”
From £30. Nothing happens until you are sure.
The finished book, with the family's own photographs woven through it.
You do not have to organise any of it. Amanda handles the whole process, gently, from the first phone call to the moment it's yours to keep.
Amanda spends time with you over a series of relaxed, recorded conversations, at their pace and in their own chair.
She shapes those conversations into a properly written life story, keeping the person's own voice throughout. You see a full draft first.
The finished story becomes exactly what you want to keep: a professionally produced hardback, the original recordings, or a digital copy.
A landmark birthday, an anniversary, a retirement after forty years, or a grandchild who has just arrived.
See gift options→A parent growing more frail, a diagnosis that has shortened the timeline, or memory beginning to fade.
See what is possible→For the story that was not written down in time, built from letters, photographs and the people who remember them.
See how this can still work→Want to tell your own story instead, in your own words? This is for you too →
Not a printout in a ring binder. Something that sits on a shelf for fifty years and gets handed down.
I have spent fifteen years in some of the UK's top advertising and marketing agencies, managing projects for big corporate clients. But the thing I have been most passionate about throughout my career has always been the same: people's stories, and how to tell them well.
I studied psychology early on and later trained in therapy, and that fascination with what makes people who they are led me to train as a Samaritans listener. I spent years as a voluntary befriender to elderly men and women, many of whose stories have stayed with me ever since.
As a busy mum myself, I know how precious family time is, and how daunting a project like this can feel. So my promise is simple: a professionally managed process, and a genuinely warm, patient pair of hands for the person who matters most.
No hourly rates, and nothing added later.
Every story is finalised by Amanda, whichever of these you choose.
Answer a set of questions together, in your own time, then send the recording to Amanda. Decide about the write-up whenever you are ready.
£30Do it yourselfAmanda conducts every conversation herself, from the first call to the finished book, in their own voice.
From £250Depends on the number of sessions, worked out together on a callFor a project that needs something beyond the usual shape.
Worked out on the callFully customEdited recordings of the sessions are quoted at the end of the project, so you keep the voice as well as the words. Most families share the cost between them, so do tell Amanda how many of you there are and she will invoice each of you separately. See full pricing→
A book takes about fourteen weeks, and birthdays do not wait. So for Christmas, Father's Day or any day you have already got circled, what you give them on the day is the voucher, and they decide afterwards whether that becomes the full Life Story now, or the Memory Kit once it's available.
Not ready to talk to Amanda yet? Take the list she uses and try it yourself. It costs nothing, and if you find it harder than it looks, you will know where she is.
Send me the list
And then one day it turns up, and it is his.
The first visit has no recorder and no notebook, just a cup of tea and a conversation about whether this feels right. Most people who are reluctant at the start are glad of it by the second session.
The Memory Kit is built for exactly this, a set of questions to go through at your own pace, with no need to decide about a written-up book straight away, but it isn't quite ready yet. If time is genuinely short, please just message Amanda directly.
They stay between Amanda and you. Nothing is shared beyond what goes into the book, and you keep the edited recordings yourself.
Tell Amanda a little about who the story is for. There is no obligation, no pressure, and no salesperson at the end of it. Only her.
If time is short, message Amanda on WhatsApp. She will reply as soon as she can.