BookBrowse Reviews Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

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Three girls vanish from a boarding-school outing in Australia, profoundly impacting those left behind.

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On a sunny Valentine's Day in rural Australia in 1900, the residents of a girls' boarding school and a few chaperones make their way to a local landmark for a picnic. Known as Hanging Rock, it's a giant stone formation looming over the landscape. While the teachers and most of the girls bask in the sun, four of their classmates wander off to explore. After briefly catching the eye of an aristocratic young British man and his stable groom, the girls begin to climb up the rocks. Soon, they feel dizzy and confused. Only one of the girls makes it down. The others have vanished without a trace.

We see the impact of the mysterious event play out in the lives of those left behind. The headmistress, Mrs. Appleyard, faces possible financial ruin as the school's reputation is tarnished in the press and parents rush to withdraw their daughters. The posh young man who saw them, Michael, can't stop thinking about one girl in particular, and sets out to find the missing group in a show of hubristic heroism. Sarah, the school's youngest student, becomes depressed, pining for the missing Miranda, who was particularly dear to her. Some critics have interpreted Sarah's love for Miranda as queer-coded, although it's unknown if that was the author's intention. What's certain is that the bond between the two was a hugely important part of Sarah's life. But even those who were more peripherally connected to the girls, like the school's domestic staff, find their lives changed by the event.

Though this novel was first published in 1967, its author did attend a boarding school in the early 20th century (albeit as a day student). This lends it the kind of authenticity that other authors of historical fiction have to earn through meticulous research. The author even teases her readers in the book's prologue, hinting that the book may have been based on true events.

The colonial Australian setting plays a large role in this story. The girls' disappearance serves as a reminder to its white, mostly British-descended characters that the land they've settled on is, to them, still in many ways an untamable mystery. The fact that the students have been lost without a trace seems to play on the settlers' anxieties that they do not really have dominion over their new home. Though the wealthy characters in this book reside on meticulously landscaped estates and conduct their lives in the manner of British aristocrats, they are not immune from natural hazards. We see this when Michael nearly dies attempting to rescue the girls. He goes out to the rock without adequate preparation or supplies, and is later found unconscious with a wounded ankle. His wealth and status could not protect him from the elements, but are perhaps responsible for his unearned confidence.

An eerie atmosphere pervades the book, because none of the characters knows what happened to the missing students. Were they attacked by a predator (human or otherwise)? Did one of them harm the others? Or is something supernatural afoot? We see them reckon with grief against a backdrop of extreme unease.

The beauty of this novel is that it doesn't provide easy answers. Parts of the mystery are still unexplained at the close of the book. This has led to a rich tradition of fans formulating their own theories. A cleaner ending was included in the original draft and eschewed by a wise editor (see Beyond the Book). Instead, we watch as life goes on for the characters, although they have been forever changed. For the rest of their lives, they will have to make peace with not knowing exactly what happened. Some part of them will always remain at Hanging Rock.

This review first ran in the July 16, 2025 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.