Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt is excellent for fans of A Man Called Ove. Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures is a charming, witty, and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow’s unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

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, Erki, 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 before it’s too late.

The Last Word Book Club will discuss this title on Friday, March 31, at 5 pm at the Osage Beach Library. The Last Word book club meets on the last Friday of each month at 5 pm.

You can borrow the book from our card catalog or Missouri Libraries 2 Go and the Libby app.

Would you happen to need a library card? Please look at what you must bring to get a library card today.