When Esther's grandfather, Hannibal, buys the house on "Palermoway", a street on the Danish island of Amager, in 1921, he imagines a home filled with opera, bohemians and intoxicating love like the one described in the powerful Song of Songs. However, for his bride, the Russian acrobat Varinka, the time of miracles ended the moment she saw her first love disappear into the mouth of a hippopotamus who, to make matters worse, was supposed to be an elephant and become a new star in the circus of her father. Eva, the daughter of Hannibal and Varinka, a flight attendant who loves glamor and seems to be clairvoyant, begins a far more passionate love story when she falls in love with Swedish pigeon tamer Jan Gustav. Thus, Hannibal's search for love and artistic talent is transmitted to his nieces, the twins Esther and Olga, who compete for the epithet of the young artist in the family. Meanwhile, their older sister Philippa, prefers to become the first female cosmonaut, but the disease takes her life too soon. "When life gives you a hippopotamus" is a touching and unforgettable novel about the pursuit of the Love of the Century, about enduring a great loss and about giving - in spite of everything - another chance to life. Told through the prism of the shy painter Esther, this saga follows three generations living under the same roof, with occasional trips to the Paris opera stage and the Savalskaya circus on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. "If you're hungry for adventure or in search of love, and you don't always see the bright side of life, then this is the book for you - sparkling, fantastical, simple and amazing." - Femina