A weekly letter for Mom or Dad

Real mail in the mailbox, every single week.

You call when you can. Letters from Afar fills the days between. Each week your parent receives a printed letter from a character in the storyline you choose, whether that's an Amazon explorer, a WWII pilot or a gold miner. Each one has a secret only your parent gets to know.

Start a subscription Read a sample letter

Printed in large, clear type. Mailed first class. Cancel online any time.

How it works

You sign up once. They get a letter every week.

1
Pick a plan and a story
Choose one of five storylines, or let us surprise them. Pay monthly, every six months or yearly, and cancel online any time.
2
Tell us where to send it
Add your parent's name and mailing address, and a note for the first letter if you'd like.
3
We write, print and mail
A new letter arrives each week, on real paper in a real envelope. The first one goes out within 7 days.

Read a letter

Every letter is a small secret, shared.

Each storyline is a serial told in letters. The writer confides in your parent the way they would an old friend, and every letter picks up where the last one left off.

Here is the opening of the first letter in The River.

Manaus, 4th March 1911

Dear friend,

The men of this expedition believe I came along to press flowers and keep my brother's accounts. Let them. Edward has been in his hammock with fever since we left the Rio Negro, and every bearing, every sounding and every page of the survey since then has been in my hand.

Yesterday we reached a fork in the river that appears on no map in London. I named it before anyone could ask. I will tell you its name once I'm certain no one from the Geographical Society is reading over your shoulder.

Yours from the wrong side of the map,
Eleanor

P.S. A boy from the last village has followed our boat for three days. Next week I'll tell you what he wants.

The storylines

Choose the story they'll follow.

Pick one of five storylines at signup, or let us surprise them. Each one is written as letters from its main character, set in a real time and place.

AMAZON BASIN · 1911

The River

Eleanor Whitcombe is officially her brother's assistant on a survey of an unmapped Amazon tributary.

Her secretHer brother has been down with fever for weeks. She's been leading the expedition herself, and every map is in her hand.

Choose The River

SOLOMON ISLANDS · 1943

The Pilot

Lt. Walt Brennan flies a Navy Wildcat out of Guadalcanal in the Pacific.

His secretHis mother thinks he's a mechanic safe in San Diego. He tells the real story of each mission only to your parent.

Choose The Pilot

SIERRA NEVADA FOOTHILLS · 1850

The Prospector

Samuel Ashby looks like one more broke miner panning the American River.

His secretHe struck a seam of gold and buried it. Now he's sure someone in camp is watching him.

Choose The Prospector

CHICAGO · 1926

The Singer

Vivian Dupree headlines every night at the Blue Lantern, a nightclub on the North Side.

Her secretThe songs she picks each night are coded messages, and she's no longer sure who's receiving them.

Choose The Singer

COAST OF MAINE · 1888

The Lighthouse

Clara Penhallow is the keeper's daughter on a rock island six miles out to sea.

Her secretHer father has been bedridden all winter. She's kept the light alone and logged ships that appear on no register.

Choose The Lighthouse

ANYWHERE · ANY YEAR

Surprise Me

We pick one of the five storylines at random.

The fun partYour parent finds out which story they're in when the first letter arrives.

Choose Surprise Me

Pricing

One letter a week. Simple pricing.

Every plan includes printing, a stamped envelope and first-class postage to any US address. Plans renew automatically, and you can cancel online any time.

Monthly

$19 / month

Regular price

About 4 letters a month
Renews every month
Cancel online any time

Choose monthly

Save 13%

Six months

~~$114~~ at the monthly rate

$99 / 6 months

You save $15

26 letters, $16.50 a month instead of $19
Renews every six months
We email you a week before each renewal

Choose six months

Save 21%

A full year

~~$228~~ at the monthly rate

$179 / year

You save $49

52 letters, $14.92 a month instead of $19
Renews every year
We email you a week before each renewal

Choose a year

Questions

Good to know.

Are the letters real?

They're fiction. Each storyline is an original serial written as letters from its main character, set in a real time and place, so your parent can follow along week after week like a favorite radio serial.

Can they switch storylines?

Yes. Change it from your account, and the new story starts from its first letter the following week.

Does my parent need to do anything?

No. There's nothing to log into and nothing to reply to. The letter just shows up in the mailbox.

Can they write back?

Not yet. We're working on a way for readers to send a reply postcard. Subscribers will hear about it first.

Can I read the letters too?

Yes. Leave "email me a copy" checked at signup and you'll get each letter the day it mails, so you have something to talk about on your next call.

What if they move to assisted living?

Update the address from your account. Changes made by Monday apply to that week's letter.

Where do you mail?

Any address in the United States, including PO boxes and senior living facilities.

How do renewals and cancelling work?

Every plan renews automatically at the same price: monthly, every six months or every year. For six-month and yearly plans we email you a week before each renewal. You can cancel online any time, and the letters continue until the end of the period you already paid for.