Dinah is small and ordinary and has a chronic illness. But behind her reserved exterior burns a lifelong passion for dance and for the famous dancer, Rudolf Nureyev. It is through her unwavering devotion to him that adventure, political intrigue and love interrupt her quiet and self-contained life.
When Dinah meets a man who looks uncannily like Rudolf, they fall in love and so begins a romance that stands the test of time. Pavel is a Soviet spy in Australia, but is more interested in the arts and his beloved Dinah than politics.
Inevitably, Pavel falls foul of the KGB and spends 13 years drugged and in a Russian mental asylum. Dinah never learns what happens to him, but fears he has abandoned her before discovering she is pregnant with their daughter, Anna.
From an early age, Anna lives with her grandparents who have overcome sectarian prejudice, emigrated to Australia from Ireland and return with their granddaughter when Dinah is unable to cope with motherhood. Meanwhile, Dinah continues to live alone in Melbourne, and continues to be devoted to Nureyev and her memories of Pavel. Over the years she squirrels away money as an inheritance for her beloved daughter, who is the image of her father.
Throughout the novel, the presence of Nureyev punctuates Dinah's life, precipitating its most eventful moments. A final magical meeting between Nureyev and Dinah, long after Pavel's disappearance, spurs in her the hope that she might eventually be reunited with Pavel. But tragedy strikes that dream and the baton of hope is passed to her daughter.
Set throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, The Glass Carpet is a novel about the impact of tradition, politics and genius on the lives of ordinary people and how sometimes devotion is rewarded, even if it takes a lifetime.
