Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors-until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.Įver the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

'Remarkably Bright Creatures is a beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing.' - Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Hereįor fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopusĪfter Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Van Pelt sets the story in a small tourist town in northern Washington and populates it with characters that are both interesting. A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! In Remarkably Bright Creatures, debut author Shelby Van Pelt tells a quiet but compelling story about loss and grief, and how they affect us and how, if we’re lucky, we find the ability to move on with our lives.

Remarkably bright creatures