My Mother's Book, but digital: the tell-me journal and the apps compared

On the kitchen table lies a hardback book. On the first page, in slanting handwriting: Where were you born, and what was the house like? Below it, your mother wrote half a page, with an arrow to a photo she pasted in. Anyone who has received such a book back knows what it is worth.

This guide is about those books, the tell-me journals by Elma van Vliet, and about a question many children and grandchildren ask: can we do this digitally, with the voice included, so the whole family can read it? We put the options side by side.

Last checked: 7 October 2026, on the pages of the publishers, booksellers and makers listed at the bottom. We make The Memory Palace, an app from a small team in Leuven, Belgium, and it is one of the options below. We have no connection with Elma van Vliet or her publishers.

The short answer

If you want a book on paper, in her own handwriting, buy the book: it is good as it is. If you want the same questions with her voice, more photos and a place the whole family can visit, there are digital options. Storyworth sends a question every week and prints a book. Remento lets her speak the answers and prints a book with QR codes to the recordings. The Memory Palace keeps the answers, the voice and the photos together in a private palace, with a free plan. You can also combine them: she fills in the book, and the pages and her voice are kept digitally.

What the book is, and why people love it

Elma van Vliet made the first of these books for her own mother, when her mother became seriously ill and she realised how much she still wanted to ask. It grew into a series for mothers, fathers and grandparents. In English it appeared as My Mother's Book (Penguin Books, 2019). Her publisher says the books have been translated in twelve countries and sold millions of copies.

The idea is simple, and that is its strength. You give the book, she fills it in at her own pace, and she gives it back. The questions are about childhood, love, motherhood and what matters to her, with room for photos. And you get something no app can give: her handwriting, her crossings-out, the page where she wrote more than there was room for.

Where paper stops

• There is one copy. It stays with one child. Brothers, sisters and cousins may read it once, at a birthday.
• There is no voice. You read what she wrote, but you do not hear how she tells it.
• There is little room for photos. A few are pasted in, the rest stay in the box.
• It can get lost. A move, a damp cellar, a box that ends up with the wrong heir.
• Writing is not for everyone. Someone with poor eyesight or unsteady hands may prefer to talk.

None of this is a criticism of the book. These are the limits of paper, and they are easy to work around.

Digital ways to do the same

Storyworth: weekly questions, then a book

Storyworth sends a question every week by email. On the Color plan the storyteller can also answer by phone, and the call is transcribed. After a year there is a hardcover book. The first year costs $69, $99 or $199. Stories are private and shared with the people on your sharing list. Storyworth is offered in English and Spanish.

Remento: speaking instead of writing

Remento sends the question by email or text message. The storyteller taps a link and speaks the answer, with no app or password. Each recording becomes a written story, and the book has a QR code with each chapter that plays the original recording. The first year costs $99, then $99 a year or $12 a month to keep recording. Everything is private by default. Speech-to-story works in English and Spanish.

The Memory Palace: answers, voice and photos in one place

The Memory Palace does not send weekly questions and does not print a book. It is a private palace, on iPhone, Android and in the browser, with wings and rooms. You could make a room called "Mum tells".

• The interview. In the app, a gentle interviewer asks about growing up, her parents, that one great love, and follows up on what she says. She speaks or types; her words are kept as she said them, and her spoken answers stay in the palace as voice recordings. The free plan includes two interviews.
• Kep, the porter. Send a photo, a video or a voice message to Kep on WhatsApp and he hangs it in the room you chose. That is also how the photographed pages of a filled-in journal get into the palace.
• Photos with a name and a year. Each photo says who is on it, when it was, and the story behind it.
• Shared with family and friends. You share a room or a whole wing, and whoever you let in walks through it on their own phone. You can always take sharing back. Letting others add their own photos is part of a paid plan.
• Yours to take along. On every plan you can take everything with you in one ZIP file. Data is encrypted and stored in the EU, and there are no adverts.

Side by side

Option	How the story is told	Voice kept	Who can read it	What you end up with	Price (as stated)
The journal (My Mother's Book)	She writes in the book	No	Whoever holds the book	One book in her handwriting	The price of a book
Storyworth	Weekly email question, written answer; by phone on Color and Unlimited	Phone answers are transcribed	People on your sharing list	Hardcover book	$69, $99 or $199 the first year
Remento	Weekly question, spoken answer via a link	Yes, QR codes in the book	Private by default, people you share with	Book with QR codes, recordings	$99 the first year, then $99 a year or $12 a month
The Memory Palace	Interview in the app, spoken or typed; photos and voice messages via Kep on WhatsApp	Yes, as voice recordings	Private until you share a room or wing	A palace with rooms, full ZIP export; no printed book	Free plan with no end date; paid plans on the pricing page

Prices and features change. Check them on the maker's site before you buy.

Around All Saints: a quiet way to start

All Saints' Day on 1 November, and All Souls' Day the day after, are days when many families think of the people before them. This year 1 November falls on a Sunday. It can be a good weekend to sit down together, without a big plan.

1. Choose one person and three questions. Not thirty. Our printable twenty questions to ask your parents are a place to start.
2. Let the voice be heard. Do the interview in the app together, or simply record her answer and send it to Kep as a voice message.
3. Photograph what is on paper. The filled-in pages, the pasted photos, the card with her recipe. Send them to Kep, room by room.
4. Share it with the family. Share the room, so that the cousin abroad can read and listen too.

Going to the grave, or gathering at the table? Our free remembrance card to print holds a photo, a name, the years and one line, with a QR code to the room with her stories.

If there is already a filled-in journal from someone who has died, treat it gently. Photograph every page and keep a copy in a second place, and leave the original where it belongs. There is no hurry with the rest. Our guide on a quiet place to keep someone's memory may help.

Want to try first how a conversation gets going? The free family interview asks one question and two gentle follow-ups, without an account.

Keep her stories in a palace

Start with one room and one story. The free plan has no end date: 1 GB, a family tree of up to 25 people and two interviews. Create your palace with The Memory Palace.

More reading: how to interview older family members, a family memory book, digital or printed and Storyworth in other languages.

Sources

• AbeBooks, My Mother's Book (Penguin Books, 2019): abebooks.com/9780143133742/Mothers-Book-Vliet-Elma-0143133748/plp
• Penguin Random House, Elma van Vliet: penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2183452/elma-van-vliet
• Storyworth, pricing: welcome.storyworth.com/storyworth-pricing
• Storyworth Help, what languages are supported: help.storyworth.com/en_US/what-languages-are-supported
• Storyworth Help, who has access to stories: help.storyworth.com/en_US/who-has-access-to-stories
• Remento, FAQ: remento.co/faq
• The Memory Palace, plans: thememorypalace.ai/pricing