The Bird

“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.