“Dear reader, I hope this finds you well. It’s been so long since I last wrote.”

Confused? You likely are if you were born in the digital era. For others, this introduction will recall faded memories of thank-you notes to grandmothers, chatty missives to pen pals and melancholy dispatches from long-departed expats. Young or old, savour that stilted opening; for the death knell is being sounded — yet again — for the handwritten letter.