Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creatures [MTI]: A Novel Shelby Van Pelt

Soon to be a Netflix Film

Featuring a New Essay by Shelby Van Pelt About the Film Set

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

“Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut about what it feels like to have love taken away from you, only to find it again in the most unexpected places. . . . Memorable and tender.” — Washington Post

“Completely charming.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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 mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a brilliant, giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a 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.