Joan Lindsay (1896–1984)

I spotted ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ in the library and recalled seeing stylish images of a mini series adaptation online. Since I might watch that someday, clearly I ought to read the book. Such are the tenuous reasons that sometimes lead me to read things. As I’d hoped, the novel proved to be atmospheric and involving. The focus wasn’t quite what I anticipated, though. Although the titular picnic involves a party from an all-girls school, much of the subsequent narration follows Mike, a young aristocrat recently arrived in Australia. This isn’t really a mystery story, rather it traces the cascade of consequences that follow the picnic. There isn’t much more I can say without spoilers, other than that I enjoyed the sly and evocative voice in which it is told.

Mike’s involvement has a surprising twist. When he gets involved in the search for the missing girls and finds one of them, it seems almost inevitable that he’ll fall in love with her. No indeed! After politely taking Irma punting, he bids her goodbye and subsequently runs off to Queensland with Albert the stable lad. The two have an intense relationship with unsubtle homoerotic overtones, which is apparently enabled by the picnic and its fallout. This turned out to be the most touching and wholesome dynamic in the book, whereas the bonds between the schoolgirls and their teachers are treated with a much more jaded eye. The school is depicted as a haunted, even cursed, place. The spookiness is conveyed very well and Mrs. Appleyard is a genuinely scary presence.

I suspected long before getting to the end that there would be no ultimate explanation for events. The mystery of three disappearances at Hanging Rock remains unsolved and the denouement instead shocked me with Sara’s apparent murder. While I’m willing to accept that Miranda and Marion wandered through some secret portal to fairyland, I remain curious about how Miss McCraw lost her skirt then vanished. Although the stolid policeman mentions the possibility of rape and murder, it seems more plausible that Australia simply opened its mouth and ate all three of them. The lack of interest that the novel has in their fate is strikingly unusual and, as a general disliker of murder mysteries, I really enjoyed the novelty. It left space for close observation of the characters that remained, alternately humorous and unsettling in tone. The mundane becomes vivid in the light of strange disappearances; individual reactions say interesting things about the characters and their society. A distinctly beguiling little book.… (more)

Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction, my readers must decide for themselves. There's the bait....

Four school girls and a teacher go for a walk at Hanging Rock during a picnic and one returns in a state of hysteria with no memory of what happened. Another of the girls is found days later, unconscious with no memory of what happened. The rest of the group is never found.

As things start to unravel the psyche of the different characters are revealed and prove to be very interesting.

I enjoyed, but it is a slow read which ends with a surprise at the end that made it worth the read.… (more)

I enjoyed this novel thoroughly. Many years ago I saw the film and was fascinated by it; the book is even better.

Three South Australian private school girls and their math teacher disappear on a special outing to Hanging Rock in February of 1900. I have never been to Australia, but Lindsay manages to evoke a great feeling of geographical isolation in the bush, as well as helplessness in a world before mobile phones and search and rescue helicopters.

I was startled to find that the main crisis of the story - the disappearances - happened so early in the novel and genuinely wondered how Lindsay was going to keep me interested for the rest of the book. I needn't have worried. Lindsay's striking characterizations, particularly of the headmistress, and her gift for atmosphere kept me hanging on until the last page.

This is a book I recommend most highly. It is unusual, creepy, and extremely well written, and will stay with you long after you put the book down.… (more)