Originally published on 3/25/26

If you’ve been to a bookstore recently, chances are you saw a simple off-white paperback with an illustration of a feather and the words Theo of Golden on the cover sitting on one of the shelves of must-read books. And for good reason: Not only is it a heartfelt, warm and comforting book, but it also has shocking moments that will have you eagerly turning the pages needing to know what happens next. Woman’s World recently sat down with the author, Allen Levi, to discuss the twists, turns and the book’s viral success. Read on to discover what he had to say. 

Allen Levi discusses ‘Theo of Golden’ 

Theo of Golden follows an old man named Theo after he moves to Golden, Georgia. There, he discovers a coffee shop with 92 portraits on the wall, each featuring  a resident of the small town. Intrigued by the artwork and the subjects,  Theo decides to buy the portraits and gift them to the person featured. In doing so, he makes new friends, hears interesting stories and discovers that sometimes the best thing a person can do is show up and listen.

“The portraits are based on real pictures in a coffee shop that were drawn by a friend of mine,” Levi tells Woman’s World. “I bought four of the portraits that day and took them home with me. I didn’t know any of the four people in those particular portraits, but I tried to imagine, over the course of the next few weeks, as I looked at them, what their story might be. Then one day, I picked up a pen and tried to imagine myself giving the portrait to the people in a bestowal. And realized in the course of doing that this could really be an interesting story, if I can just find the right character to carry out the bestowals and then get the lineup of people who received the portraits from him.” 

Among the four portraits Levi purchased was one of a woman named Cheryl, who Levi says served as the inspiration for Ellen, a homeless woman Theo befriends. 

“I didn’t know at the time for sure that Cheryl was homeless, but everything I could see in the portrait suggested hardship. She had a lot of road wear on her face, and so I created the character, Ellen, not really knowing anything about Cheryl’s actual story,” the author explains. “Come to find out that Cheryl has lived long periods of her life in homelessness, and she rides a bicycle. She is a delightful woman. I just met her a few months ago. I was a little afraid that she might have been offended if she had read the book by the character that I created out of her portrait, but she has read the book, and she was highly complimentary of it. She did want me to know that she’s not as crazy as Ellen is.” 

Allen Levi opens up about his writing journey 

Prior to becoming an author, Levi worked as a lawyer, singer, songwriter and judge. Then, one day, he walked into a coffee shop, saw some portraits, wrote a book about them and self-publish them online. 

“I did not write this story to be published. There is a story that I want to write eventually. It’s been in my mind for probably two or three decades now, and when I started this particular project I thought it would just be a personal challenge to see if I could sit still long enough to write a novel,” Levi says. “Writing then began to fill my time, and I wrote off and on. I had no deadline, no audience, no intentions of publishing, so I just did it at my leisure. And when I got frustrated, which was often, I just quit, and a month or two or three later, I’d pick it back up. At some point, I fell in love with the old man and the characters, and I found the completion of the project irresistible. I had to get to the end of it. Then when I decided to self-publish, I didn’t know a thing about the book world, but because of self-publishing with Amazon, my niece and I decided to try and figure it out.” 

Allen Levi shares his thoughts on the ending 

Without spoiling anything, many readers have suggusted that the ending of Theo of Golden felt rushed. They also have said that it made them mad, because after reading 400+ pages, they were hoping for a happy ending for Theo and the rest of the Golden residents.  

“I’ve gotten so much pushback about the ending,” Levi admits. “I knew I wanted there to be this dramatic intensity that ramped up at the end, but I didn’t know how I was going to get there. To me, that was kind of the beauty of writing. Figuring out the story as it was, going along and working without an outline or any plan, just made it that much more adventurous. It also made it that much more frustrating, because I’ve wasted a lot of paper getting to where I ended up.” 

You can pick up your copy of Theo of Golden now wherever books are sold.

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/books/allen-levi-reveals-theo-of-golden-inspiration-exclusive