Childhood and war are two of fiction's most enduring themes, yet in Olympia (Bloomsbury, £15.99 in UK), Canadian writer Dennis Bock has made dramatic and original use of these traditional sources in this quietly intense debut.
Peter, the narrator, is the son of German immigrants. Born in Canada, he is growing up in a world far removed from the wartime hell his parents left. Culturally the family is at a remove. "War stories," as he points out, "had always been a part of my family . . ." There is something else which sets the family apart: its fine sporting tradition. His grandparents had competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, while his father finished fifth in the yachting at the Rome Games. Inspired by the Russian gymnast Olga Korbut at Munich in 1972, Ruby, Peter's sister, begins to train in the hope of eventually competing at the same level.
The sense of time in this novel is created by the flashbacks which are camera-sharp yet also dreamlike; and by what appear to be random references to whatever Olympics happen to be going on. In this way 20 years, the period from the Munich Olympics in 1972 to the Barcelona Games, pass. Peter is a likeable, quiet narrator. Yet for a novel which is impressively understated, there is a great deal of drama. Sport is important to Peter, who appreciates its heroic dimensions. When his grandparents announce early in the novel their intention to mark their 35th anniversary by having a second wedding ceremony on water, it sounds as if Bock is aiming for a homely slice of domestic realism. But that special day ends in disaster, as the old lady drowns.
A year after this accident, Peter's uncle arrives to stay. It is 1972, the Munich Olympics are in progress and Uncle Gunter appears obsessed with repairing the cracks he discovers in the floor of the family's swimming pool. Although long aware of the relevance of the war and the role it played in his family's life, the boy realises how deep its impact is when Gunter arrives. "Everything I saw in Gunter, everything he did that summer, everything I heard him say - in German and in his broken English - I attributed to the war . . ." Bock subtly conveys the unexpected turmoil caused by his odd uncle's visit.
For much of the book, Peter remains true to his boyish preoccupation with Olympic medals and who wins them. All of this is very well done - as is Peter's relationship with his father, the former Olympic yachtsman, now boat builder, and fellow obsessive. Both are fascinated by wind and storms and become serious storm watchers. In one sequence they sit in the car watching a tornado. When Ruby's gymnastic career is upset by a serious illness the family will her recovery, only for her to fade again.
Bock is a careful, relentless writer. His language is simple, unadorned and controlled, and while much of Peter's story is tragic, he sustains a compassionate detachment: "I saw my father's grief had nowhere to go but out into that strange world of storms."
Near the novel's close Peter has been drawn to Europe as the place his parents "once came from". For a while he had also helped foreign students prepare for life in Canada. Curiously, considering what had happened years before, Peter's parents then decide to celebrate their wedding anniversary by getting married again. Admittedly, in their case, they had separated briefly after their daughter's death. Another narrative echo is Peter's decision to marry his Spanish girlfriend when she is diagnosed - wrongly - with an illness similar to Ruby's. His parent's second marriage celebration, which coincides with the Barcelona Olympics, also acts as the setting for the epiphany which seems to free Peter from his family's complex past.
Quiet, understated and as random as life, Olympia is unusually sympathetic, reverberant and convincing.
