Picnic at Hanging Rock

Summary (from the publisher): It was a cloudless summer day in the year 1900. Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of the secluded volcanic outcropping. Farther, higher, until at last they disappeared. They never returned. . . .

Haunting, mysterious, and subtly erotic, Picnic at Hanging Rock inspired the iconic 1975 film of the same name by Peter Weir. A beguiling masterpiece of Australian literature, it stands with Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca as a masterpiece of otherworldly intrigue.

Review: This novel tells the story of a group of boarding school girls who mysteriously go missing during an annual picnic outing on Valentine's Day in 1900. Despite Mrs. Appleyard's strict supervision of the school, the wild terrain of the Australian landscape gains the upper hand. Beautifully written, this novel is eerie and full of mystery.

The opening scenes of the novel were beautifully executed, filled with the girls' anticipation for their annual picnic outing overshadowed by the reader's sense of foreboding and increasing horror as three girls and their math instructor all go missing. As the novel progresses, the sense of horror and psychological tension continues to build as more horrifying events continue to take place and the façade of Appleyard College's dignified structure continues to crumble. The fragility of humankind and the fickle nature of destiny are underscored by the timeless and unceasing permanence of the landscape that frames the story and all its characters.

This is a beautifully written novel, whose picturesque setting directly oppose the shocking events that befall its characters: "Out at the Hanging Rock the long violet shadows were tracing their million-year-old pattern of summer evenings across its secret face" (65). Ultimately, the novel concludes with the mystery left unsolved, which while somewhat dissatisfying, only serves to underscore and enhance the eerie tone of the novel.

Stars: 4