Theo of Golden by Allen Levi (2023 Fiction)

This book is a remedy for the trials and tribulations of current life. It’s an uplifting, positive story about an 86-year-old man who moves to Golden, Georgia and begins to interact with the community. He visits a coffee shop where many pencil portraits are hung on the walls. He finds that these are portraits of people who live in Golden and he decides to buy them and return them to the “rightful owners”, the subjects of these drawings. He invites each one to meet with him privately and learns about them. He is genuinely interested in them and they respond to his kindness. In time, we meet a range of people including the coffee shop owner who is a Vietnam veteran, a homeless woman, a janitor and many more. As each meets with Theo, their lives change and Theo is reenergized to continue sharing their drawings in exchange for hearing their stories. Allen Levi is a first time author who had difficulty finding a publisher. He ended up self publishing and now the book has been on the top of Amazon’s and the NYTimes’ paperback best seller lists for weeks! Don’t miss it! It will do your soul good!

Reviewed by Robin Olivier