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Garland Press

A book for their 18th, written by the people who know them.

A cloth-bound hardback of advice and stories from family, friends, godparents and teachers, including the ones who can’t be at the party.

Start their bookSee how it works →
£89including UK postage
18th & 21stor any milestone birthday
Pay at the endwhen the writing is ready
A Forest cloth hardback in its jacket, “For Theo, at eighteen”, standing turned to show its pages
Forest cloth · foil-stamped spine · printed jacket

Nobody faces a blank page.

1Everyone picks a topic, then a questionOne link, no account needed.

Hi Sam, you’re invited to write for

Theo

What would you like to write about?

MoneyGetting it wrongSomething to cookTheo and me
What do you know about money now that you wish someone had told you at 18?
Tell Theo about a money decision you still think about.
What’s one thing you’ve learned about money? Say it the way you’d say it out loud.
2Each person writes one answerNot “write something nice”. A specific question, answered naturally.

← Choose a different question

What do you know about money now that you wish someone had told you at 18?

The book is a surprise, so don’t mention it to Theo. Please write by Tuesday 27 October.

Money! Your mum will tell you I’m the last person who should be giving anyone advice about this, and she’s got a point, but I have made most of the mistakes – which surely counts for something.
Add to the bookSave & finish later
3You read every entryThen add a foreword of your own.

Theo’s book · organiser

12 of 16 have written

1Uncle Sam · MoneyTwo flights to Vancouver · 1,120 wordsNew
2DadLeaving home · 1,480 words
3EllieTheo and me · 560 words
4GrandadGetting it wrong · 2,310 words
5Mr Ellis (chemistry)Work · 940 words · 1 photo
6PriyaFriendship · 830 words

Drag to reorder · Ask for a change · Leave one out

4Each answer becomes a chapterTypeset and bound in cloth, with any photo facing it.

Money

Two flights to Vancouver

Uncle Sam

Money! Your mum will tell you I’m the last person who should be giving anyone advice about this, and she’s got a point, but I have made most of the mistakes – which surely counts for something.

The big one was a credit card. I signed up for it in my first week at Reading because they were giving away a free railcard, and it took me until I was 26 to pay it off. There was also the guitar I never learned to play.

But I’m guessing you don’t want a page of me telling you what not to do, and your mum will have that covered anyway. So instead I’m going to tell you about the best money I ever spent.

In 2006 your aunt and I paid £640 we didn’t really have for two flights to Vancouver. Her best friend Kirsty had moved out there, and we’d been saying we would visit for two years. We went for three weeks. Once we’d landed we had almost nothing left, so we slept on Kirsty’s floor, lived on bagels, and borrowed her car at weekends to drive up into the mountains.

I couldn’t tell you a single other thing I bought that year. I could tell you about every day of that trip, and I’m going to tell you about one of them.

It was the second weekend. We’d driven up past Whistler on a forestry road Kirsty had told us not to take, and about an hour after dark the car slid into a ditch and wouldn’t come out.

5

You bring the people. We make the book.

One month is enough. Tell us when the book must arrive and we’ll set the writing deadline.

  1. Today

    Set it up and share the link

    Choose the topics and post the link in the family WhatsApp.

  2. Writing deadline

    Read it, then order

    Arrange the chapters, add a foreword and pay.

  3. Their birthday

    The book arrives

    Printed, bound and posted about 10 days after you order.

From a sample book for Theo

What did you learn the hard way when you first lived away from home?

What has Theo done for you that you’ve never properly thanked them for?

What do you know about money now that you wish someone had told you at 18?

What did you worry about at 18 that turned out not to matter?

Who’s the friend you’ve known longest, and what’s kept you close?

Tell Theo about a time you got something badly wrong at around their age, and what happened next.

What’s one thing Theo should know how to cook, and how do you make it?

Every word is kept as it was written.

The opening of the chapter Bodington, 1994, by Dad, answering: What did you learn the hard way when you first lived away from home?

Nothing to pay until you’ve read it.

£89
including UK postage

Collect the writing for free. You only pay once you’re happy with what goes to print.

Start their book
  • A cloth-bound hardback in five colours, with a printed dust jacket
  • Typeset chapters, with optional colour photos and captions
  • Up to 30 people writing, plus an optional foreword from you
  • A proof checked by hand, then printed and bound in the UK

Before you begin

When should I start?

Four to eight weeks before the birthday is best. Two weeks is the minimum, or a few days more around bank holidays. Tell us when the book needs to arrive and we’ll set the writing deadline about 12 days before it. That leaves time for you to read everything and order, and for us to print and post it.

What if someone isn’t a natural writer?

Every topic has a short, plain question for them: ‘What’s one thing you’ve learned about money? Say it the way you’d say it out loud.’ If they’d rather talk than type, sit with them and type it up on their link.

Can it be a surprise?

Yes. The invitation and its link preview both say it’s a surprise and ask people not to tell them. Anyone the link is forwarded to can join, so don’t post it in a group chat they’re in. You can turn the link off or replace it at any time, and it closes at the writing deadline.

Is any of the writing made by AI?

No. People write every contribution. The questions give them a way in; we typeset their words for the book.

All questions and answers →