Remarkably Bright Creatures

Tova Sullivan is in her seventies, widowed, and still shadowed by the disappearance of her teenage son Erik, who vanished from a Puget Sound town thirty years ago and was presumed drowned. To keep busy, she cleans the local aquarium after hours, where she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus who is far more perceptive, and far more escape-prone, than his keepers realize.

Marcellus, who narrates part of the novel in his own wry voice, has pieced together a secret about Tova's past that she has never known. As a drifting young man named Cameron arrives in town chasing questions about his own family, the threads Marcellus sees begin to draw together toward the answer Tova stopped hoping for.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut, Remarkably Bright Creatures, is a warm, gently mysterious novel about grief, second chances, and unexpected connection across species and generations. Charming without being saccharine, it became a beloved book-club favorite.