SOLD OUT: Bookshop Santa Cruz presents: Shelby Van Pelt | REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES

• This special offsite event is made possible with support from the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, with additional support from 90.3 KAZU

ABOUT THE EVENT + TICKETS:

• This in-person event will include a book talk with the author plus audience Q&A. The event will run approximately one hour and will be followed by a book signing.

• Each ticket costs $26 (includes ALL taxes and fees) and includes a seat at the event + complimentary deluxe paperback edition of the book.

• Please note: Each admission package contains separate barcodes for individual entry and your complimentary book (so, that's 2 ticket barcodes per package). The book has its own barcode so that you can pick it up early (beginning on 4/29, its release date), if you want to.

• If you don't want your complimentary book (perhaps you are going with a friend or partner and don't need two), we are happy to donate it on your behalf to our local library partners. Please note, books uncollected at the event will be held at Bookshop Santa Cruz for two months, after which they will be released for donation.

• Tickets are final sale and do not qualify for Readers Club credit.

• This event is generously supported by the Seymour Marine Discovery Center and cosponsored by 90.3 KAZU

Thank you! We can't wait to see you at the event!

ABOUT THE BOOK + AUTHOR:

"A heartwarming novel to suit any mood." — New York Times

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.

AUTHOR:

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Shelby Van Pelt lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her family. Remarkably Bright Creatures is her first novel.

PRAISE:

"A unique and luminous book." — Booklist (starred review)

"Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] 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." — Washington Post

"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." — Elle

"The best books about grief find a way to illuminate the darkness of loss, and Remarkably Bright Creatures offers a masterclass." — Marie Claire