
Remarkably Bright Creatures
- Author Shelby Van Pelt
- Narrator Marin Ireland, Michael Urie
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
- Run Time 11 hours and 17 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Crime and mystery fiction, Crime and mystery: private investigator / amateur detectives, Family life fiction, Fiction: general and literary.
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What to expect
Have you met Marcellus the octopus yet?
**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**
OVER HALF A MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE
BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
OVER 29,000 5 STAR REVIEWS
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOKS OF 2022
GLAMOUR BEST BOOKS OF 2022
'Full of heart and humour . . . I loved it.' Ruth Hogan
'Will stay with you for a long time.' Anstey Harris
'I defy you to put it down once you’ve started' Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope. One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who sees everything, 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 body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late...
Shelby 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.
'You won’t be able to put it down because when you’re not reading this book you’ll be hugging it.' Jamie Ford
'Truly original and touching' Helen Hoang
'Unique and luminous' Booklist starred review
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READER REVIEWS
'I couldn't put it down'
'Marvelous, heartwarming, brilliant'
'I enjoyed every second'
'I was gripped from the first page'
'I was completely charmed by this story'
Critics Review
A unique and luminous book
A beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing. Shelby Van Pelt makes good on this wild conceit, somehow making me love a misanthropic octopus, but her writing is so finely tuned that it’s a natural element of a larger story about family, about loss and the electricity of something found
Remarkably Bright Creatures is the rarest of feats: a book that manages to be wry and wise, charming and surprising, and features one of the most intriguing and satisfying characters I’ve encountered in fiction in a very long time – Marcellus the Octopus. I don’t know how Shelby Van Pelt managed to make this uncommon tale sing so beautifully, but sing it does, and I defy you to put it down once you’ve started
Truly original and touching, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a story of family, community, and optimism in spite of darkness. Prepare to fall in love
Shelby’s characters are unique and yet completely relatable … It is a fresh and fascinating story full of heart and humour and I loved it.
A winningly totally original feel-good mystery packed with memorable characters that, once started, demands to be finished
An ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut about what it feels like to have love taken from you, only to find it again in the most unexpected places … Memorable and tender.
A warm and satisfying book. It wrapped itself around me, luring me into the many mysteries hidden just beneath the surface.
Remarkable characters, who will stay with you for a long time.
You’ll bask in this book’s warmth and wit
The best books about grief find a way to illuminate the darkness of loss, and Remarkably Bright Creatures offers a masterclass
Infused with heartfelt humor, Van Pelt’s elegant portrait of a widowed woman who finds understanding and connection with a clever octopus is refreshingly, if surprisingly, relatable. Despite the unorthodox relationship at its core, the debut novel offers a wholly original meditation on grief and the bonds that keep us afloat
User Reviews
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