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Paperback | 384 pages

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 Sullivans 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 shes 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 wouldnt dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captorsuntil he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tovas son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before its too late.

Shelby Van Pelts debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.