Remarkably Bright Creatures

After the death of her husband and the decades-old disappearance of her son Erik, Tova Sullivan works the night shift cleaning the Sowell Bay Aquarium, finding solace in routine and solitude. Her unlikely companion is Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus who observes the humans around him with remarkable intelligence and dry wit. When Marcellus discovers a secret about Tova's son's fate, he becomes determined to communicate this to her before his short octopus lifespan ends. Meanwhile, Cameron, a down-on-his-luck thirty-year-old searching for his biological father, stumbles into Tova's orbit. As these three storylines converge, the novel weaves together themes of grief, family, and the unexpected connections that can help us heal. Told partly from Marcellus's perspective, this heartwarming debut offers a fresh take on loss and the mystery of human connection.

Shelby Van Pelt is an American author from the Pacific Northwest. Remarkably Bright Creatures is her debut novel, which became a New York Times bestseller and a Read With Jenna Book Club pick. Before writing, she worked in various fields including technology. She was inspired to write about octopuses after visiting aquariums with her children.