Attention book lovers!

Please join our own OTown Reads book club and dive into the mesmerising Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt.

Participants can purchase the book in our store for a 10% discount. Then join us on Wednesday, March 13, 7 PM for our book club gathering where we’ll discuss the book, meet new friends, and have some fun.

We absolutely adore this debut novel by Shelby Van Pelt. It features an impertinent giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus and a cast of (human) characters who weave in and out of his orbit. A seemingly light read with depth and, ahem, brilliance.

If you’d like to join OTown Reads, please send an email to us here, and we’ll add you to our contact list.

About the Book

"Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut. . . . Memorable and tender." -- Washington Post

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER by: Chicago Tribune * The View * Southern Living * USA Today

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.