Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction, my readers must decide for themselves. As the fateful picnic took place in the year nineteen hundred, and all the characters who appear in this book are long since dead, it hardly seems important.

Lindsay, Joan. Picnic at Hanging Rock (Penguin Classics) (p. viii). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Every lover of books has a To-Be-Read (TBR) list that ebbs and flows with the years and the seasons. I happen to have many different TBRs. These lists have names like:

• Books I want to re-read again
• Gothic Classics TBR
• Victorian Classics TBR
• Horror Classics TBR
• Mysterys TBR
• Pulps TBR
• Poets TBR
• Authors to take a deeper dive into
• Hardboiled Detectives not explored yet

During the month of October, I finally got to a book that has been on my TBR lists for a long time, Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay.

Picnic at Hanging Roc is written in a way that makes the reader uncertain whether it is a true story or a novel. Set in early 20th-century Australia., the story revolves around a group of young girls and one of their teachers who mysteriously disappear during a picnic at a remote location, Hanging Rock.

The story takes place at Appleyard College, a private boarding school for girls. A group of students, including Miranda, Edith, Irma, and Marion, are planning a Valentines Day picnic to Hanging Rock. One student, Sara, is not allowed to attend due to disciplinary issues.

On the day of the picnic, the four girls climb the monolith at Hanging Rock. Only one returns in shock and one of the teachers also disappears.

The disappearance of the girls and their teacher leads to a massive search effort and a media frenzy. Several theories are put forward, including abduction, murder, and supernatural explanations. Despite extensive searches, the girls and their teacher are never found.

As the investigation continues, the events at Hanging Rock have a profound impact on the community and the college. Students withdraw from the school, staff members resign, and several people connected to the case die under mysterious circumstances.

The novel concludes with a pseudo-historical afterword that suggests that the records of the investigation were destroyed in a bushfire. The disappearance of the girls and their teacher remains a mystery, leaving a haunting legacy.

All addicted readers know there is a feeling that you get at the end of some rare books that is a combination bittersweet satisfaction mixed with a kind of mourning. For this reader, Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of those books. I envy those now who will get to read it for the first time.

In case I have not made myself clear enough, I highly recommend!

Here is a link to the Amazon Kindle version.