★★★★★ 5
Recognizing the Hearts that Burn Within Us
Format: Paperback
Yes, Theo of Golden does, at times, border on the melodramatic and the sentimental. It can be repetitive. It can take an awfully long time to make its point. And yet, the novel speaks very significantly of the need for love, compassion, generosity and forgiveness---in a world that is not always kind, in a world where many of us carry secret burdens---where sadness (mixed with intermittent joy) might be viewed as a universal human affliction.
Theo of Golden is, overall, a book of glad tidings. An end with a future. Thoughtfully, warmly and intelligently written. A novel that often addresses the beauty of Art, most notably painting and music. A novel in which I learned what a fado is. In fact, I learned a lot from this novel.
Unlike some readers, I did not see the book as misogynistic or xenophobic. I didn't necessarily see it as "Christian fiction"---unless you mean doing good, striving for strength of spirit and understanding the connection between "the ultimate and the proximate, the wide grace and the narrow way."
Finally, I don't view the novel's conclusion as disappointing, but simply as falling action and resolution. It is, after all, a very traditionally structured work.
Kudos to the author Allen Levi for having written an initially self-published book that was later picked up by a major publishing house. That is, indeed, a rarity.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2026
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