Frequently Asked Questions

A subscription that delivers a year of letters to your mailbox, each one penned in the voice of a historical figure or a beloved literary character. Real paper, real postage, no screen required.

You pay once, up front, for the full year: 24 letters in all, arriving every two weeks. No app to check. No inbox to clear. Just something worth opening in the mail again.

No — and we want to be upfront about that. The figures in our roster lived in the past (or, in the case of literary characters, never existed at all), so none of them are physically writing these letters. What you receive is new correspondence, written specifically for this subscription, grounded in real research into how that person thought, spoke, and saw their world. The goal is a voice that feels true to who they were — not a claim to a recovered or authentic document. If you're looking for verified, real archival letters, that's a different kind of product than what we offer.

Every letter is printed on heavyweight linen paper and closed with a wax seal. Alongside it, you'll find a short reflection card that draws out the idea or moment behind that letter — something to sit with, not just read once and set aside.

Letters arrive bi-weekly over a 12-month subscription — 24 letters in total, one figure, one ongoing correspondence across the full year.

Not currently. The subscription is one-directional: you receive letters, you don't send replies. We've built it this way to keep the experience simple and focused — a correspondence to enjoy, not one to maintain.

Our roster spans three groups: literary characters like Elizabeth Bennet, Jay Gatsby, Jo March, and Victor Frankenstein; historical figures like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and Napoleon Bonaparte; and a smaller collection of remarkable animal companions from history. Each figure offers a different lens on ambition, courage, love, or consequence — pick whichever one means the most to you, or to the person you're giving this to.

Many of our subscribers use Inkwell Offline alongside their family's history studies — it's a screen-free way to add texture to a lesson, a discussion starter, or simply something to read together. Some figures in our roster lived through difficult chapters of history, and our letters are written with care for a family audience, honest about what happened without being gratuitous about it. If you'd like to know more about a specific figure's story before subscribing, feel free to reach out first.

We know some homeschool families use education savings accounts or similar funding programs for curriculum and enrichment purchases. We're still working through what's possible here, so we can't confirm eligibility with any specific program yet — if this matters to your decision, reach out and we'll let you know where things stand.

It happens; mail gets lost. Let us know which one and we'll send a replacement or add a letter to the end of your subscription to make up for it.

Send us a quick photo and we'll replace it. No need to return the damaged one.

Email us the moment you notice. If the letter hasn't shipped, we'll fix it. If it has, we'll work out a replacement.

We don't offer pausing. Your 24 letters are scheduled to arrive every two weeks across the year. If a move or life event gets in the way, email us and we'll help however we can, including forwarding to a new address.

No. You pay once for the full year, and that's it. Nothing renews, and there's no recurring charge to watch for. When your 24 letters are done, you're welcome to subscribe again, but only if you want to.

Both, equally. Plenty of subscribers choose a figure for themselves; just as many give it as a gift for a history-loving parent, a homeschool mom, a grandparent, or a reader who already loves the character they're being introduced (or reintroduced) to.

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Since you pay once up front, there's no recurring subscription to cancel. If you'd like to stop and request a refund, see our Refund Policy below.

Not yet. Inkwell Offline currently mails within the United States only.

Write to us at stacie@inkwelloffline.com. A real person reads every message, and we're rather fond of good mail.