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Remarkably Bright Creatures

by Shelby Van Pelt

A night-shift friendship and a long-unanswered mystery

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Awards & Recognition

  • Bestseller

    A New York Times Bestseller

    The source identifies the book as a New York Times bestseller.

  • Book club selection

    A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick

    Selected as a Read With Jenna book club pick.

  • Critical praise

    Praised by The Washington Post as “Memorable and tender”

    The Washington Post describes the book as an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut, and calls it ...

AlbakiReads Editorial

A night-shift friendship and a long-unanswered mystery

After her husband’s death, Tova Sullivan keeps busy with night work at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, where she befriends Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus. Tova has also lived for decades with the disappearance of her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, who vanished from a boat in Puget Sound. Marcellus, observant and more knowledgeable than his keepers realize, pieces together clues about that night and sets out to help Tova uncover what happened. The novel brings a family mystery into an aquarium setting, linking grief, companionship, and the possibility of facing the past. This collector’s edition includes ocean-inspired marbled edges and endpapers, gold foil, and a reading group guide.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in character-centered fiction about grief and companionship.
  • Readers who enjoy family mysteries involving a long-unresolved disappearance.
  • Book groups seeking a novel with a reading group guide.

Themes

Grief and lossFriendship across speciesFamily secrets and disappearanceConfronting the past

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

This Collector's Edition features marbled oceanic edges and endpapers, gold foil, and a reading group guide.

A New York Times Bestseller * A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick

Now a Netflix Film

"Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut. . . . Memorable and tender." --Washington Post

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. 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.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. 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.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

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.

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