About this ebook
Olympia is the story of post-war German immigrants, as told by their son Peter, born in the New World and raised in the sixties and seventies.
Though great figures and events of mid-century touch the lives of this remarkable family, it is the private histories, the grand failings and small triumphs of Peter's family that remain etched in the reader's imagination. From Ruby's struggle to rise above her leukemia and her father's love of severe weather and killing tornadoes, to the saint who witnesses a miracle at the bottom of a drowned Spanish village.
Set against the backdrop of some of the most significant Olympic moments of our times--the Nazis' stylish and sinister glorification of the Berlin Olympics and the 1972 Munich hostage-taking in which 11 Israelis were murdered--Olympia offers a bold and refreshing perspective on the tragic relationship between Germans and Jews in this century.
Bock writes with insight and clarity in a breath-taking, beautiful prose that signals the debut of a brilliant new talent.About the author
DENNIS BOCK’s book of stories, Olympia, won the CAA Jubilee Award, the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Betty Trask Award. His novels include The Communist’s Daughter and The Ash Garden, a #1 bestseller, a winner of the Canada-Japan Literary Award and a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Kiriyama Prize and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. His most recent novel, Going Home Again, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Dennis Bock lives in Toronto.