Theo of Golden
Fiction
Simon and Schuster
October 3, 2025
Paperback/Audiobook
400
Purchased/Library
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers.
Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.
My review:
This story resonated with me and I'm a bit surprised by that. This is definitely not a plot heavy story, so you should know that going in. As Theo is distributing drawings from the coffee shop, we learn the stories of the people they depict. We also get many descriptions of Theo just going about his life in this small town. Why he gravitated here will eventually become clear, but you have to wade through all the character studies and Theo as a person to get there. I of course love nothing more than a good character driven story, especially when it involves an older man (A Man Called Ove and The Secret Life of Frederick Fife are two that come to mind). I really enjoyed the slower pacing, and the talk about art and music. The reason I'm surprised I liked it is because I was afraid it was going to be a bit too "preachy" for me. I'm not big on having religious topics pushed on me, it generally turns me off from a book. I had heard that Theo was a very religious man, which he was, but I didn't feel that he ever tried to push his views on those he met. Rather, his acts of kindness showed through much more than his religion. The ending had me crying, but it was done really well, and tied up so many stories from the characters we met along the way. I listened to this on audio, and I highly recommend if you consume books in this format. The narrator does the perfect voice for Theo, and it connected me to his character even more.
The reviews on this are mixed. For the most part it is well loved, but those who don't like it, really didn't. Most sight problems with all the characters who share their stories with Theo. This was not a problem for me, but as I said, you must like character driven stories. The number one thing that I got from this book is that we should all have a little bit of Theo in us, and maybe the world would be a better place right now.