Allen Levi never planned to publish the book. He certainly never expected Oprah to quote from it. But on Friday, a Pasadena book group will gather to discuss the novel that defied every reasonable prediction about what happens when a 69-year-old first-time author from rural Georgia self-publishes a quiet story about kindness.
Fiction Fun!, the monthly reading group at All Saints Church, will discuss “Theo of Golden” on May 22 in the Guild Room. The session is free and open to the public — early discussion begins at 6:30 p.m., with the main book discussion running from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. — and it arrives at a moment when the novel’s improbable trajectory has made it one of the most talked-about books in the country.
Levi self-published “Theo of Golden” in 2023 with no marketing budget and no agent, according to a Washington Post profile. He had written it over three and a half years as a personal challenge, with no intention of sharing it beyond friends. Those friends, however, insisted.
The self-published edition sold roughly 175,000 copies before Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, picked up the novel and published it traditionally in the fall of 2025, according to a company press release. It hit the New York Times bestseller list in November 2025 and rose to No. 1. By March 2026, Atria announced that the book had sold more than one million copies in all formats in the United States.
The novel follows Theo, a mysterious elderly stranger who arrives in the small Southern city of Golden. He discovers pencil portraits of townspeople hanging on the walls of a local coffeehouse, buys them one by one, and returns each portrait to its subject — asking only to hear their stories in exchange. What unfolds is a series of encounters that alter lives on both sides.
The New York Times called the book “a word-of-mouth smash hit.” The Washington Post described it as having “a soft-lit, allegorical quality.” Oprah Winfrey chose a passage from the novel as her “Favorite Quote for 2026,” according to a post by Atria Books. It was also the February 2026 Katie Couric Book Club pick and the March 2026 Jen Hatmaker Book Club pick.
Levi, an attorney, judge, and singer/songwriter who lives on family acreage in Harris County, Georgia, said in an AARP interview that the book’s character was inspired in part by his late brother Gary. The coffeehouse setting came from a real place: Fountain City Coffee in Columbus, Georgia, where 92 actual portraits hang on the walls.
Online commentary has noted the book’s earnest, sentimental quality and its Christian themes. Blogger Nicole O’Meara wrote that “anyone who enjoys people-watching will enjoy Theo of Golden,” adding that the book “gave me the courage to talk to strangers on a recent international trip.” Levi told AARP that many readers are drawn to the book during what he called “a pretty vitriolic time,” saying people are “wondering how we can react to the present moment in a way that’s redemptive and life-giving and gracious.”
Fiction Fun! has met monthly at All Saints Church, at 132 N. Euclid Ave. in Pasadena, for years, exploring “what it means to live lives of faith by reading and discussing contemporary and classic works of fiction,” according to the church’s website. The group is facilitated by Cecilia Flynn and Parkes Riley. Copies of “Theo of Golden” are available at Vroman’s Bookstore. For more information, contact the All Saints Church front desk at (626) 796-1172 or
https://allsaints-pas.org/calendarevent/1252292/.
Levi is at work on a sequel. It is called “Ellen of Golden,” after one of the characters whose life Theo quietly changed.
