Picnic at Hanging Rock (Penguin Classics)

*Now a six-part TV series starring Natalie Dormer, from Amazon Prime*

A 50th-anniversary edition of the landmark novel about three “gone girls” that inspired the acclaimed 1975 film, featuring a foreword by Maile Meloy, author of Do Not Become Alarmed


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

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Published Oct 3, 2017

224 pages

Average rating: 6.84

32 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

AlexandraGC
Mar 26, 2025
frustrating or good. Undecided to be honest. Maybe frustrating and good?
Hen92
Apr 13, 2025
Eterni secondi
Codeliusthe2nd
Sep 04, 2024
10/10 stars
An absolutely fantastic mystery that constantly kept me on my toes, continually guessing what happened, as well as the outcomes for the students at the academy. A truly stunning piece.
CazzaT
Jul 23, 2024
[MEMBERS CAN SHARE THEIR RATINGS AND REVIEWS OF THE BOOKS YOU READ TOGETHER] This eerie and captivating mystery casts a long shadow over the Australian literary scene. Ethereal and enigmatic, the historical fiction novel is presented as if it were a true story and tells the tale of a group of girls leaving for a picnic on Valentine's Day in 1900. Three of them will not return.

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