“Theo of Golden” may have started out modestly, but in the three years since author Allen Levi first self-published the novel, it’s grown into what The Wall Street Journal has called “an unprecedented bestseller.”
The novel — which has been noted for its Christian themes — has been on the New York Times bestseller list for the last 36 weeks and now is in talks for a movie adaptation starring Tom Hanks, Deadline reported this week.
Here’s what to know about the new movie, how the novel has become so popular and what the author has said about his faith.
What is ‘Theo of Golden’ about?
Theo is a stranger when he arrives in the town of Golden. But after a visit to the local coffee shop, where individual portraits of the townspeople hang on the walls, he begins to buy them one by one and giving them to the person depicted in the portrait — in exchange for the person’s story. With each story that’s shared, secrets are revealed and the lives of the people in the town begin to change.
The novel is about “the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the quiet miracles that happen when we choose kindness and wonder,” according to its summary.
Who wrote ‘Theo of Golden’?
Allen Levi had a varied career before publishing “Theo of Golden” in his late 60s. He worked as a lawyer for 13 years before moving to Edinburgh to get a degree in Scottish fiction, and then had a career as a singer-songwriter for nearly 20 years, according to The Washington Post. However, he stopped touring his music after his brother, Gary, got sick so that he could spend more time with him.
The character of Theo was partially inspired by his brother, who died a few years ago, Levi told AARP in an interview earlier this year.
“He loved people,” Levi said of his brother. “He seemed to love all the right things. ... So if there is anyone who became the template for the character by the time I finished the book, it would’ve been Gary.”
But he was also inspired by a visit to a coffee shop in his hometown of Columbus, Georgia, whose walls were covered in portraits of people.
“The thought crossed my mind, Wouldn’t it be fun to buy all of these one at a time and return them to the subjects in the frame?” Levi told AARP. “So I bought four of them that day and took them home. Then the idea for the story started to germinate.”
Once Levi had finished writing the manuscript, however, he had no real intention of publishing it. It was a group of his friends who read the book that ended up persuading him that he should get it published, according to the Post.
He turned to his niece, Aron Ritchie, for help self-publishing the novel.
“I’m almost 70. We’re really late in the game, so it would take too long to do that process,” Levi recalled telling Ritchie. “Let’s see if we can self-publish. And if we can sell a thousand copies, I would be over the moon.”
How did ‘Theo of Golden’ get so popular?
Levi and Ritchie took what The Washington Post called a “low-fi” approach to publicity, with Ritchie posting about the novel in various Facebook groups and creating a list that she titled “Good Souls to Connect with,” which she would pass on to Levi every few weeks. The list included readers who had reached out to Levi or people who had shared it with cancer support groups.
By the end of 2023, the book had sold 3,000 copies. By 2024, that had risen to 25,000, the Post reported. And by the spring of 2025, they were selling nearly 1,000 copies a day.
Now, though, “Theo of Golden” is no longer self-published — the rights to the book were acquired by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in the fall of 2025, and it was released in November.
And its popularity certainly isn’t slowing down. Last month, Levi joined Oprah Winfrey on her podcast to discuss the book, and earlier this year, former “Today” show host Hoda Kotb called it “one of my favorite books in the world.”
After weeks on the bestseller list, “Theo of Golden” has sold 3.5 million copies in the U.S. and it’s been published in 43 languages, according to Deadline, and The Wrap says it’s “the highest-selling print book in America for 2026 thus far.”
Not only is a movie in the works, but Levi is also working on a sequel, which will be titled “Ellen of Golden.”
Is ‘Theo of Golden’ a Christian book?
Levi has been open about his Christian faith, though he has refrained from calling it “Christian fiction,” as he told Christianity Today in an interview, because he didn’t want to “run off readers who don’t share our faith perspective.”
But he told the outlet that his faith is a major part of his life. He grew up attending a Presbyterian church with his family in Georgia, though he said “faith was probably a somewhat superficial thing for us” at that time. It was when he went away to college that his faith deepened, thanks to the influence of people he met there who were “unashamed Christians.”
“Ever since then, faith has been deeply rooted in me,” he told Christianity Today.
While wanting to keep “Theo of Golden” accessible to readers of all faiths, Levi said that he wanted to “communicate hope” through the novel, and has said that his “mission statement” for his writing is to “use stories to provoke godward thought.”
Is ‘Theo of Golden’ getting made into a movie?
Warner Bros. Pictures is currently in negotiations for the film rights to “Theo of Golden,” Deadline reported Wednesday. Tom Hanks is in talks to star in the lead role and be a producer on the film, while Levi is set to be executive producer.