Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay (1967)
The year is 1900. On Valentine’s Day a group of young women who attend the Appleyard College for Young Ladies, private boarding school set out for a picnic at the infamous Hanging Rock in central Victoria, Australia. Mrs. Appleyard, the Headmistress of the school, is very strict and has very rigid rules that the girls must follow. She also keeps financial tabs on the students, taking care to garner to the wealthiest.
After their picnic lunch, several of the young women and one of the chaperones set off on a hike towards the Hanging Rock. Come time to return to the school, these women were nowhere to be found. Their mysterious disappearance is the beginning of a series of strange and dark events for the school and those involved in searching for the young women.
A search party is sent out to find the young women, but to no avail. The girls’ disappearance sets the locals tongues wagging: Were the girls abducted, murdered, “or worse”? Meanwhile, while the girls set off, they passed the wealthy and privileged Michael Fitzhubert and his course coachman Albert Crundall. Albert cat-calls the girls, much to Michael’s chagrin. When he learns the girls are missing, Michael decides to go look for them on his own. He discovers Irma, one of the young women, unconscious and near death lying on a rock. Before he can return home, he falls and is rendered unconscious when Albert finds him.
Ultimately, both Irma and Michael rescued, Irma to the Appleyard College, and Michael to his uncle’s summer home, where they recover from their injuries. Irma has no recollection of what happened at Hanging Rock. Michael, seemingly to be of weak disposition, takes weeks to recover from his wounds.
Irma was one of the wealthiest students, so when her father informed Mrs. Appleyard that she would not be returning after the Easter Holidays, Mrs. Appleyard becomes concerned. Soon other parents are withdrawing their daughters from the school. Teachers and staff also begin to leave their employment with the school.
Spoiler Alert: One student, Sara, is an orphan and not a favorite of Mrs. Appleyard. When Sara’s guardian fails to send in his payment for the term, Mrs. Appleyard punishes Sara by not allowing her to continue art lessons. Then, Mrs. Appleyard suddenly announced that Sara’s guardian was coming to collect her from the school. Mrs. Appleyard insists that she, herself, will welcome the guardian and see Sara off. After Sara is ostensibly sent away, under circumstances that seem strange to the remaining staff, we learn that Mrs. Appleyard receives a letter from the guardian apologizing for not remitting Sara’s tuition. What really happened to Sara?
The novel ends with Mrs. Appleyard ostensible leaving the school to visit friends. Instead, she set an elaborate plan to leave the school, head for the Hanging Rock and meet her demise.
This novel delves into several characters. It was a bit hard to understand as there was a considerable amount of Aussie slang, which I am not familiar with.
Read: August 22, 2021
3 Stars
