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 Here For 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 octopus 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.