In her debut novel, Shelby Van Pelt somehow made us all fall in love with the friendship between a charismatic octopus, a 70 year old janitor, and a luckless 30 year old at a small aquarium in the fictional town of Sowell Bay, Washington.
The tragic story of Tova Sullivan starts when her 18 year old son goes missing and presumed dead after finding some of his belongings and a boat in the Puget Sound. 30 years later, now widowed, Tova is spending her life cleaning the local aquarium and keeping all of the sea life there company when she notices an escapee stuck in some power cords in the break room. From there, Tova and her new friend Marcellus the Octopus strike up a friendship where she lets him roam while she cleans and converses with him like a little therapist in a tank. Known for their intelligence, Marcellus the octopus connects some pieces about what happened to her son and who the new maintenance boy at work could be for her.
Meanwhile, a 30 year old, who seems to fail at adulting most of the time, has just been dealt a hand of a new break up, loss of his job, and nowhere to turn to. Abandoned by his mother at just 9 years old, Cameron Cassmore strikes up the bright idea of finding who his real father is in his own "get rich quick scheme" and sets out on a journey to Sowell Bay in a beat up camper to follow the lead that his dad is a successful real estate tycoon based off of a photo and a class ring he found in his mothers belongings.
Marcellus gets to work trying to get Tova and Cameron to put the pieces together about both of their pasts by using his wit and his skill to place objects in their way to try to help them find the answers they both so desperately need.
The journey between these three characters is sure to tug on your heart strings and leaves you invested in finding out the true story and connections between this unlikely trio of friends. Brought together by fate (and shoved together by a caring, albeit pushy octopus) the journey of Tova and Cameron prove that growth and healing can happen to anybody, at any age and following along while they both get answers to questions and revisit hard feelings that they've both harbored for decades makes all the answers worth it in the end.
The dynamics between the characters and their unique personalities will have you feeling like you're a part of the little community of Sowell Bay.
This contemporary, literary fictional novel is sure to leave you with all the feels and is why it is Rebekah's pick of the month.
Check this book out at Kingston Public Library today!
