The Healing Hippo Of Hinode Park

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Kabahiko is an amazing hippo. People say that if you touch the area of his body that you want to make better on yours, he’ll provide a cure.

Nestling at the bottom of a five-storey apartment block is the children’s playground, Hinode Park. If you look to the side, standing on stubby legs, is a hippo. Its upturned eyes give it a teary look, yet for decades, its quiet power has sustained the hearts of one community. Meet the neighbours who will reach out to Kabahiko: -Kanato presses his head to the hippo’s cheek, hoping to recover the stellar marks he once scored; – Sawa, a lonely new mother, strokes its mouth, hopes to connect as she once did when she was an award-winning retail assistant; – Chiharu, a wedding-planner, hopes to be able to listen for the happiness of others; – Yuya avoids sports day with a fake injury, only to find he really is in pain.

A quietly powerful story of hope, friendship and connection, Michiko Aoyama’s beloved bestseller is a celebration of everyday encounters. Its subtle portrayal of the magic of community will lodge itself in every reader’s heart.

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The Author

Michiko Aoyama was born in 1970 in Aichi Prefecture, Honshu, Japan. She is the author of the multi-million-copy bestselling What You Are Looking For is in the Library, which was a Time Book of the Year, a Times bestseller and a New York Times Book of the Month. Her latest novel to be translated into English, Hot Chocolate on Thursday, is her debut, which tells of the Marble Cafe, a tiny community cafe in Tokyo, and is set partly in Japan and partly in Sydney, Australia. It is a companion read to Matcha on Monday, coming soon in translation. Another book available in English by Aoyama is the international bestseller The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park. Aoyama lives in Yokohama, Japan.