The Short Version
Willa is Ellen’s daughter. Ellen gave birth to her as a homeless teenager in a Charleston hospital, held her once, and never saw her again; she tells Theo the whole story in Chapter 25. Zila is Theo himself, though the book keeps that hidden until its final chapters.
Spoiler warning: the next paragraph reveals the ending.
At the very end of the book (Chapter 61), a young woman named Olivia Reese walks into Mr. Ponder’s office, and the book strongly implies that she is Willa herself. Zila is the famous painter Gamez Theophilus Zilavez, who spent his last year in Golden under a shorter name.
This guide covers every main character in Allen Levi’s novel. The who’s who table below is spoiler-free; the sections on Willa, Zila, Theo and Asher spoil the ending, and the rest are safe if you are still reading. For the full final chapters, read our Theo of Golden ending explained.
Jump to: Who is Willa? · Who’s who table · Who is Zila? · Theo · Asher · Ellen · Tony · Simone · Minnette and Derrick · Kendrick and Lamisha · Basil · Mr. Ponder · Gammy and Tita · Where they end up
Who Is Willa in Theo of Golden?
Willa, full name Willa Francesca, is Ellen’s daughter: the baby girl Ellen gave birth to as a homeless teenager in Charleston and held only once before she was taken away. She never meets Theo; she enters the book through Ellen’s bestowal in Chapter 25, and from then on Theo carries her birthday in his memory.
Ellen tells Theo the story on a bench by the fountain, in the rain. The happiest day of her life, she says, was April twelfth, thirty years earlier. She and her boyfriend, William, were living on the streets of Charleston. William was shot and killed that night, and she went into labor. In the hospital a kind nurse and a policeman let her hold her daughter once, and Ellen greeted her: “Hello, Willa.” Then the baby was taken, and Ellen never saw her again. She still wears a gold locket with a lock of the baby’s blonde hair.
Theo remembers. Chapter 53 opens on “April 12. Willa Francesca’s birthday.” He writes Ellen a card with a pale gold feather from the river and wishes Willa a happy 31st birthday. Then he wonders whether sending it would be wise, tears up the card, and decides maybe next year.
Where Willa appears: Chapter 25 (Ellen’s story), Chapter 53 (her birthday), Chapter 61 (the last word of the chapter) and the Epilogue.
Spoiler warning: the rest of this section reveals what happens to Willa.
After Theo dies, a young woman from out of town insists on seeing Mr. Ponder. She introduces herself as Olivia Reese, says she needs help finding someone she thinks lives in the area, and hands him a letter addressed to her home in South Carolina. He reads it twice, looks into her face, and Chapter 61 ends on one word: Willa. The book never stages the reunion. In the epilogue, Ellen has become Mr. Ponder’s only new client since Theo’s death, and the book adds a single line: “Willa is thirty-five this year.”
Who’s Who in Theo of Golden
Spoiler-free: roles as you meet them, and the chapter where each character first appears on the page. Asher, Tony, Ellen and Basil are also named in passing in the prologue.
| Name | Role | Connection to Theo | First appears |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theo | An old man from Portugal, new to Golden | The main character | Prologue |
| Asher Glissen | Golden artist who drew the 92 portraits in the Chalice | Theo buys his portraits and gives them away | Chapter 2 |
| Minnette Prentiss | Accountant, Asher’s niece | The first person to receive a portrait | Chapter 3 |
| Derrick Prentiss | Minnette’s husband, a prosecutor | Goes with Minnette to the first bestowal | Chapter 4 |
| Tony | Owner of the Verbivore bookshop | Theo’s friend on the Promenade; points him to Ponder House | Chapter 6 |
| Gammy | Minnette’s late grandmother | Remembered by Minnette at her bestowal | Chapter 7 |
| Simone | Cello student at Golden University | A friend; Theo attends his recital | Chapter 9 |
| James Ponder | Owner of Ponder House | Theo’s landlord, consultant and confidant | Chapter 10 |
| Mrs. Gidley | Mr. Ponder’s secretary | Finds addresses and mails Theo’s letters | Chapter 10 |
| Kendrick Whitaker | Quiet night-shift custodian at the university | Receives a portrait; becomes a friend | Chapter 14 |
| Lamisha Whitaker | Kendrick’s daughter, who loves to draw | Theo visits weekly to read with her | Chapter 14 |
| Tita | A name from Theo’s past | Theo’s daughter | Chapter 17 |
| Basil Cannonfield | Guitarist who plays on the sidewalk near the Chalice | Receives a portrait | Chapter 22 |
| Ellen | Homeless woman who lives near the fountain | Receives a portrait; tells Theo about Willa | Chapter 24 |
| Willa Francesca | Ellen’s daughter, taken at birth | Theo remembers her birthday | Chapter 25 |
| Olivia Reese | Young woman from South Carolina | Visits Theo’s advisor, Mr. Ponder | Chapter 61 |
Who Is Zila in Theo of Golden?
Zila is Theo. His obituary names him as Gamez Theophilus Zilavez, a renowned Portuguese-American artist known around the world as Zila, who died at eighty-seven from a fall at his temporary home in Golden, Georgia. Nobody in town knew. To Golden he was simply Theo, the old man who bought the portraits in the coffee shop and gave them away.
That is why the queries “gamez theophilus” and “who is Zila” lead to the same person. The name Theo comes from the middle of his real name.
Who Is Theo in Theo of Golden?
Theo arrives in Golden at eighty-six, a newcomer who tells Minnette he was born and raised in the north of Portugal and has lived for many years in New York. He rents the top-floor apartment of Ponder House, with a small balcony over Broadway. He notices that almost none of the ninety-two pencil portraits on the walls of the Chalice coffee shop have sold, so he buys them one at a time and returns each to the person in it, with a letter and a meeting on a bench beside the fountain. He calls these meetings bestowals.
He carries a private grief: his wife and his daughter, Tita, died long before the book begins. He dies after falling from that balcony while trying to stop an attack on Ellen and Simone at the fountain.
Who Is Asher in Theo of Golden?
Asher is the local artist who drew all ninety-two portraits. He is married to Brooke, has a daughter, Samantha, and is Minnette’s Uncle Asher. Theo’s final letters reveal that Asher is Theo’s son: Theo met Asher’s mother in Madrid, where he taught at the Prado and she was a student, and chose his career over her. She went home, married, and asked him never to make contact. Asher is the reason Theo came to Golden, and in the epilogue he is Theo’s heir.
Who Is Ellen in Theo of Golden?
Ellen is the homeless woman in the blue hat who sits by the fountain. She is sharp, funny and fragile, and her bestowal, the story of Willa, is one of the most moving chapters in the book. She is badly beaten in the attack at the fountain. In the epilogue she lives at the Mission, runs a thriving featherwood business, and gives all of her first sixteen hundred dollars of savings to Simone’s cello fund.
Who Is Tony in Theo of Golden?
Tony runs the Verbivore, a bookshop on Broadway a stone’s throw from the fountain. He is loud, cranky and funny, insists his shop is a week from closing, and is secretly the most tender person on the Promenade. He is still saying the same thing in the epilogue, with one small glass of port each evening.
Who Is Simone in Theo of Golden?
Simone is a cello student at Golden University, a graduate student from the state of Washington who came to study with Professor Gobelli. Tony keeps telling him to get a guitar instead. On the night of his recital he runs in to defend Ellen, and the attackers break his hand and smash his cello. His hand heals, and in the epilogue he plays with a symphony in Massachusetts on a vintage cello his friends bought him.
Who Are Minnette and Derrick in Theo of Golden?
Minnette is a certified public accountant and the first person to receive a portrait. She was raised in Golden by her grandmother, Gammy, and she is Asher’s niece. Her husband, Derrick, is a prosecutor who reads Theo’s first letter with a lawyer’s suspicion. In his last letter, Theo writes that Minnette’s eyes, at the very first bestowal, were the eyes of Gammy. By the epilogue, they have a son named Theo.
Who Are Kendrick and Lamisha in Theo of Golden?
Kendrick works the night shift and rarely smiles. His portrait leads Theo to his daughter, Lamisha, who is in the hospital and loves to draw; Kendrick calls her Scooby. Theo sends a box of art supplies for her birthday. In the epilogue she has outgrown, but still owns, a pair of shoes as blue as a morpho butterfly, and she walks with a limp but no longer needs crutches.
Who Is Basil in Theo of Golden?
Basil Cannonfield plays guitar on the sidewalk near the Chalice, and has told friends how discouraging it is to work so hard for tip money. In the epilogue he is working on a doctorate and has married Trina.
Who Is Mr. Ponder in Theo of Golden?
James Ponder is Theo’s landlord, consultant, confidant and friend, and the person who hands Asher Theo’s letters. Mrs. Gidley, his secretary, is the one who has a feeling he should see Olivia Reese.
Who Are Gammy and Tita in Theo of Golden?
Gammy is Asher’s mother and Minnette’s grandmother, the woman Theo loved in Madrid. Tita is Theo’s daughter, named for her grandmother, whose early death shaped the rest of his life.
Theo of Golden Characters at a Glance
| Character | Who they are | Where they end up |
|---|---|---|
| Theo (Gamez Theophilus Zilavez, Zila) | The 86-year-old newcomer who gives away the portraits; secretly a world-famous painter | Dies after falling from his balcony |
| Asher Glissen | The artist who drew the 92 portraits | Revealed as Theo’s son and heir |
| Ellen | Homeless woman by the fountain, Willa’s mother | Recovers, lives at the Mission, runs a featherwood business |
| Willa Francesca | Ellen’s daughter, taken at birth | Strongly implied to be Olivia Reese; thirty-five in the epilogue |
| Olivia Reese | A young woman from South Carolina looking for someone | Mr. Ponder reads her letter and says: Willa |
| Tony | Owner of the Verbivore bookshop | Still a week from closing |
| Simone | Cello graduate student | Joins a symphony in Massachusetts |
| Minnette Prentiss | CPA, first portrait, Asher’s niece | Has a son named Theo |
| Derrick Prentiss | Minnette’s husband, a prosecutor | Father of baby Theo |
| Kendrick Whitaker | Night-shift worker, Lamisha’s father | Gets a promotion |
| Lamisha Whitaker | Kendrick’s daughter, who loves to draw | Walks without crutches |
| Basil Cannonfield | Sidewalk guitarist | Working on a doctorate, married to Trina |
| James Ponder | Theo’s landlord and confidant | Takes one new client: Ellen |
| Gammy | Asher’s mother, Minnette’s grandmother | Died before the book begins |
| Tita | Theo’s daughter | Died before the book begins |
If you are choosing your next read, our books similar to Theo of Golden has six gentle novels, and our Theo of Golden book club questions has twenty discussion questions.
Deciding whether to read it? See the spoiler-free Theo of Golden review.
