Remarkably Bright Creatures

Dazzling and unexpected, Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel, REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES (Ecco; On-sale: May 3, 2022; ISBN: 9780063204157), is set over the course of a summer in a fictional town on Puget Sound. This is a witty and warm tale of a widow’s friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance thirty years ago.

Tova Sullivan began mopping floors and tidying up on the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium after her husband died. 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. Finding the sea creatures around her easier to talk to than the humans in her life, 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 an unlikely friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. As his affection for Tova grows, Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Shelby Van Pelt vividly renders the small town of Sowell Bay and the characters that live within it. Inspired by her own pragmatic, first-generation Swedish-American grandmother, Van Pelt imbues the character of Tova with warmth and specificity, from her love of coffee to her fondness for stray cats. Our favorite octopus Marcellus, however, began as a writing exercise. Long fascinated by the creatures, Van Pelt immediately thought of a captive octopus when asked to write from an unexpected point of view. How bored must it feel? How indignant at the thought that it wouldn’t be able to slip out of its tank? Over the course of writing the book, Van Pelt spent a lot of time wandering aquariums, staring at octopus’ tanks, and hoping that the occupant might emerge from its hiding place to stare back.

Charming, compulsively readable, and full of wit, Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a beautiful exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope—a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past
can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

As Van Pelt says in her author’s note, “To gaze at an octopus and have it gaze back at you will make anyone wonder who the brighter creature is.”