The bird - Oh Jung-Hee

"Delicate, understated writing that finds the extraordinary in the ordinary."-Tobias Hill

U-il thinks he can fly like his favourite cartoon character Toto the Astroboy. His older sister, eleven-year-old U-mi, is doing her best to look after him since their mother died and their father deserted them.

Now all they have are their well meaning but unhelpful neighbors-the Moons, Landlady Grandma, the weightlifting Mr Yi and his squawking widow bird-and despair is leading U-mi to mimic her father's behavior, abusing the one person closest to her.

Oh Jung-Hee is an uncontested master of short fiction in Korea.