Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures is a treat. Exactly the kind of quirky, fun, wise, humorous, sad but ultimately uplifting novel I couldn’t put down.

The rescue of an ageing giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus kicks off events. Unhappy with the meals his keepers have been providing, Marcellus escapes from his tank, but his food run nearly turns fatal when his tentacles become entangled in power cords. His unlikely rescuer is the aquarium’s night cleaner - a tiny, seventy-year-old woman with a bad back named Tova Sullivan. Grateful for her life-saving assistance, Marcellus decides to help Tova solve the mystery of her son’s death.

I watched this year’s July 1 Memorial Day services live on TV. The remains of an unknown soldier, who died fighting with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in WWI, had been returned to Canada from France and entombed at the Newfoundland National War Memorial in St. John’s. I’m not an overly emotional person, but at a few points I teared up during the ceremony. As to why I did that – watching remotely via an impersonal TV screen in a city half a continent away – well, that’s about story telling.

The injustice of social, economic and gender inequality are recurring themes in my fiction. No wonder then that attempts to ban books from public libraries – libraries that belong to the whole population – touch a nerve for me.

There is a vast array of knowledge and experience from the whole population of humans, and I think fiction featuring characters like Marcie is important. Marcie’s challenges may not be yours, but we still need to tell stories like hers. Most importantly, we all deserve full, unfettered access to stories like hers.

I can’t help wondering if there is an undiagnosed contagion infecting humans right now, spreading a form of insanity. Wars and threatened wars. Global economic turmoil. Formerly (mostly) sane countries now riven with internal divisions. Growing segments of society spurning science and fact-based knowledge in favour of rabid ideology, conspiracy and/or boldfaced lies. An inability to stick to climate change agreements, even as the planet burns. And hatred, so much hatred.

What is going on?