Books & Audiobooks
I have had the privilege to read some incredible books in my time and am especially moved when the writing is as magnificent as the story. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi has hit it out of the ballpark for me. Beautifully written and emotionally captivating, it is a story that will stay with me for weeks and months to come.
You may have been one of those lucky people who were able to be part of the experience of watching the Apple TV show Ted Lasso for the first time during COVID. That TV show was just what we needed during that very uncertain time; Ted’s optimism was contagious. It instilled a sense of hope in many of us who watched him. Theo is similar: he will grab your heart and inspire a more positive outlook on the world.
The story opens with Theo arriving on a spring day in the southern U.S. city of Golden, Georgia. We walk with him as his senses take in the beauty and lushness of a southern spring season and we quickly realize that Theo is a man very much in tune with the physical, spiritual and emotional beauty that surrounds him. His first encounter at The Chalice, the local coffee shop, brings him face to face with walls decorated with 92 stunning drawings of local individuals. Theo is captivated by these intensely moving pieces of art and decides to purchase them with the goal of returning the drawings to their rightful owners. During his interactions with the subjects of the drawings, we see Theo’s generosity of spirit as he opens his heart and mind to the stories of each and every one of the people in those drawings. As the weeks go on, Theo’s curiosity and gentle spirit draw the neighbourhood denizens into his warm embrace and lives are changed as a consequence of having been ‘seen’ by such a man.
In this time of conflict and uneasiness, Theo of Golden is a balm for the soul. It will leave the reader with a sense that anything is possible when done from the heart.