Theo of Golden

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING PHENONEMON

A Katie Couric Book Club Pick • A Jen Hatmaker Book Club Pick

“[A] word-of-mouth smash hit.” —The New York Times

“A treasure.” —Hoda Kotb

One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden. He doesn’t explain much about where he came from or why he’s there—but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted. In exchange, he asks only for the person’s story. And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is an unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the quiet miracles that happen when we choose kindness and wonder.

Allen grew up in Columbus, Georgia, attended University of Georgia for degrees in English and Law, and worked as an attorney from 1980 to 1990. He left law practice for two years in 1990, moved to Scotland, and, while there, received a degree in Scottish fiction from the University of Edinburgh. He returned home, resumed law practice for three years, and finally ventured into vocational music in 1996.

Since then, he has worked as a traveling musician, sharing his whimsical, thought-provoking brand of songwriting and storytelling to audiences across the U.S. He has over twenty albums to his credit, as well as hundreds of other unpublished songs.

In 2014, he published The Last Sweet Mile, a memoir of the close friendship he shared with his brother, Gary, who died in 2012. He also wrote and published a children’s book, Oliviatown, adapted from a song of the same title.

Allen published his first novel, Theo of Golden, in 2023 and is currently working on its sequel, Ellen of Golden.

When not reading or writing, Allen, cares for family acreage where he lives with his father, spends time with family nearby, keeps a full schedule of involvement in the small community around him, and dreams of being an artist someday.