Theo of Golden is a charming contemporary literature novel about an old man who shows up in a small, Southern town and starts making unusually generous gestures towards some of its residents. With strong themes of compassion, friendship, understanding, and generosity, Theo of Golden is ultimately a touching story about human decency.

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Here’s a quick Theo of Golden summary.

Theo, an octogenarian immigrant from Portugal, seemingly has no connection to Golden, but he’s the type of person who easily makes friends, so he quickly develops a circle of Golden acquaintances.

He frequents a bookish coffee shop called The Verbivore, where he’s drawn to series of hand-drawn portraits hanging on one of the walls. The high-quality drawings are for sale, and Theo is surprised to learn that very few have been purchased. He decides to rectify that by buying some of the drawings and giving them to the portrait subjects.

To do this, he writes letters to the portrait subjects, asking them to meet him at a nearby park. One by one, the people come to Theo. They are understandably mystified about the meeting request, but curiosity seems to get the best of them. All but two show up for their individual sessions with Theo.

Theo uses these opportunities to strike up conversations with the portrait recipients and get to know a little bit about the lives of the people in the drawings. He becomes close to some of them, including a homeless woman with a literary background and a janitor whose daughter is in the hospital recovering from a car wreck. These encounters frequently result in further generosity from Theo. Although he’s a bit of a mystery, he clearly has money.

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He also befriends the artist who created the portraits. Theo admires the artist’s work and spends a lot of time getting to know him and his family. At the end of Theo of Golden, we learn that there’s more to this relationship than meets the eye.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to ruin the ending for you.

Theo of Golden is currently riding high on the bestseller lists. Perhaps that’s because people are craving decency in our roller-coaster reality. In a world full of snarky social media trolls, be a Theo. That’s what I’m going to try to do. He made everyone’s lives a little better with his generosity and gentle wisdom. His character is a good reminder of how we should be treating each other.

The other characters are also well-written, and I enjoyed hearing their stories. The diverse cast of characters ranged from a Vietnam veteran who lost his belief in God during that faraway war and now spends his time nurturing people with coffee and the welcoming atmosphere of his coffee shop, to a talented, young cellist who writes a song specifically for Theo and plays it at his recital.

The diversity of the characters is reflected in their portraits and their back stories. Theo tells the artist that he sees some sadness in the eyes of the portrait subjects, but we also know from their stories that there have also been moments of happiness in their lives. Humans being human.

Theo of Golden is a very character-driven story. If you’re craving action or suspense from your next read, this probably isn’t the right book. But if you’re looking for a story with similar themes as a typical Fredrik Backman novel, I think you’ll enjoy Theo of Golden. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the recommendation, George!

If you’ve read Theo of Golden, what did you think? I’d love to hear your opinion!