When I first read about this runaway bestseller – it’s called Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt – I thought there was no way I could have pulled this off, and I doubted the young writer could; this is her first novel.

The reviews were almost unanimously raves, but I was skeptical. It sounded…well, a little dumb and improbable. That didn’t last long. I wrote 26 books, this was way  beyond me.

But she did pull it off, and I tip my cap to her; I could never have pulled it off.

I think many of my readers would love the book – those who love animals and those who love great stories,  and those who look for warm-hearted, well-written, gripping, and uplifting books on any subject.

The three words that most frequently come to my mind are original, touching, and profoundly optimistic. A book for the times. I loved every page of it.

The main character is Tova Sullivan; she is good-hearted, working-class, a widow in her 70’s, and lonely. After her husband died, she went to work for a small local aquarium in Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest. She has been hounded by well-meaning friends and busybodies who keep asking her if she is all right gossiping about her.

She just wants to be left alone.

Tova is a private person, generous and independent. She loves her job, in part because she is alone all night in the aquarium scrubbing the floors. She has never missed a night’s work.

Her friends pester her with concern, but she won’t ever speak of the haunting other tragedy in her life; 30 years ago, her 18-year-old son disappeared without a trace.

His boat was later found floating in the sound with an anchor line cut, but no sign of him.

The sheriff thought it was a suicide and stopped investigating, but Tova never believed that. She knew Erik to be happy and with lots of good friends.

Working alone at night cleaning the aquarium and scraping gum off the floors, Tova – who relates to animals much more easily than people, especially because they can’t talk –  becomes friends with Marcellus, a wicked clever, grumpy, and sneaky giant Pacific Octopus who has spent three of his four years on earth in captivity in the aquarium being stared at by strangers tapping on his tank and making faces.

Marcellus is an escape artist and an intelligent octopus, slipping out of his tank to eat fish and other tasty ocean creatures and constantly slipping back before getting caught.

The aquarium bosses can never figure out how he does it, but Tova does, and the two of them open up a conversation that will change both their lives and a few others.

Honestly, I couldn’t imagine how Van Pelt could relate a friendship and communications between a giant octopus, no matter how smart,  and a lonely widow who just wants to be left alone in her sorrows. But she does create an entirely credible, emotional, and profoundly touching and alternating dialogue between the two of them.

I have often written about animals and toyed with the idea of giving them a rich and plausible voice. I could never find a way to do it. I’m jealous of Shely Van Pelt and admiring of her. I hope she’s working on her next book.

I don’t want to say anymore; I don’t want to reveal anything beyond the above about the plotline.

I can’t remember reading a book that seems ludicrous but is entirely believable and charming. It’s not without sadness, but it is all about hope and healing.

It is a beautiful story and a wonderful about how loneliness can be healed and transformed; Van Pelt has created an almost perfect story with distinctive and rich character and is absorbing. I picked up the book to read a few pages and the next thing I remember, I had finished it.

Congratulations, Shelby on a great and truly original first novel.

I’m still not sure how she got this book to sing, but it is a beautiful song, and I recommend it highly.