Virtual Author Talk with Shelby Van Pelt

An Exploration of Friendship, Reckoning, and Hope with Novelist Shelby Van Pelt

Join New York Times bestselling author Shelby Van Pelt for a chat about her beloved novel Remarkably Bright Creatures. You don’t want to miss this deep-dive exploration of friendship, reckoning, hope, and so much more!

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a luminous debut novel about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance 30 years ago.

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 the Puget Sound over 30 years ago.

As she works, 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 tentacles 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.

Van Pelt’s debut novel is a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

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Can’t make it? A recording of this program will be available here.

About the Author: Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel, REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES, was published by Ecco/HarperCollins (US) and Bloomsbury (UK) in Spring 2022, was an Instant New York Times bestseller, and has sold a million and a half copies. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, she’s now missing the mountains in the Chicago area with her husband and two children.

Check out Remarkably Bright Creatures in our collection here.

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