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Is 'Remarkably Bright Creatures' Based On A True Story?

Was it inspired by real events? Readers compare it to a true story. Does anyone know the author's real-life influences for Tova and the octopus?
2025-07-01 12:17:47
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9 Answers

Best Answer
Abdul Rehman Asad
Abdul Rehman Asad
No, this novel is fiction, although the author reportedly studied real octopus behavior to inform the character of Marcellus. I came across another novel of a similarly charming and original premise (creating a fully realized world from an unusual perspective): The Light In His Dark. This novelette follows a lighthouse keeper and then a mysterious, nocturnal creature leaving gifts on his shore. A quiet and atmospheric exploration of unexpected connection, The Light In His Dark can be read for free on web novel sites.
2026-08-01
Carly
Carly
I hand-sell Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt to a lot of patrons, and many of them wonder if it’s nonfiction. It’s not, but it could have been written as fact because of the vivid details that the author has included in the novel. Van Pelt did a lot of research about the intelligence of cephalopods and that really comes through in the character of Marcellus, the escape artist octopus. But the human characters are just as well-drawn. The main female, Tova, is a widow and the author has captured the quietness of grief very well. The book is a great mix of marine biology and a small town and it’s really-believable. Even the parts that make you cry are realistic.
2025-07-02
Faith
Faith
'Remarkably Bright Creatures' is a fictional story but it feels real. The story follows the lives of a grieving widow Tova and a remarkable giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus who is extremely intelligent for an animal of his species. The relationship that Marcellus forms with Tova mirrors the way animals in the wild interact with each other such as the way that elephants mourn the death of their family members and the way that dolphins are known to form close friendships with each other.

What resonates with me is the novel’s emotional truth. The ways in which Tova comes to terms with her loneliness and Marcellus is clever beyond words are both true, in some way, and these are intertwined with the author’s true observations of the octopus in nature. The small town in which the novel is set is also real, a place where everyone knows your name and you can’t keep secrets hidden for long. All of this feels as real as the vast, cold ocean that is Marcellus’ home.
2025-07-03
Lila
Lila
This is 100% pure fiction but grounded in reality. My octopus, Marcellus, is based on his real-life counterparts who are known to escape from their tanks and have distinct personalities. Tova’s story is also 100% fiction but her struggles to come to terms with her life choices and find a new purpose are so very real. I tried to make the impossible possible in this book and with the help of all the research I was able to do and the incredible emotional depth that Leigh Van Pelt brought to the story, it all feels completely and totally possible.
2025-07-06
Austin
Austin
I can verify that the parts of the story with the octopuses are fiction, but largely true to life. As someone who does volunteering at an aquarium, I can attest that Marcellus would unscrew his jars, recognize the faces of his caretakers, and, on occasion, make a break for it out of his tank. But the rest of the story is purely fictional. While it is true that an octopus in a study was known to form a preference for one of the humans who interacted with it regularly, there is no truth to the story of a real-life human forming the same sort of friendship with an octopus that Tova forms with Marcellus. Instead, Van Pelt has used the available scientific data about octopuses’ human preferences to craft a novel about healing and unusual friendships.
2025-07-06

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