Panic at Hanging Rock (Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay)

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Product:	Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay
Date:	16.12.05 (766 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: mesmerising, page turner

Disadvantages: language a bit stilted in parts

My fascination with this book started some time ago. Set in Australia, I had no idea of the background to the story until a few years ago when my friend and I went to Mount Macedon one night. While making our way steeply down in the car from the mountain in the pitch black, we came across a silhouette standing at the side of the road. I don't know who was more scared - the kangaroo or us. KM let out a girlie high pitched scream. The reason for this was that my friend had just decided to tell me the tale of what had allegedly happened at Hanging Rock. I think I was a little bit spooked.

When I went to Melbourne in March this year, we were again heading for Mount Macedon and took a wrong turn. And guess where we ended up? Yup, you got it, Hanging Rock. So now I've been there (and returned) - I shall now enlighten y'all to this tale of terror …

* The plot of the book *

Set in 1900, a school outing at Hanging Rock on Valentine's Day for the pupils of Appleyard College for Young Ladies ends in tragedy.

That morning starts well. It's a hot and sunny day, perfect weather for a picnic. The girls are excited to be heading out even though their destination is a fair distance away. After they arrive and have lunch four of the girls decide to go for a walk and they are seen crossing the river. Two boys, Mike and Albert, spot them and Albert lets out a low wolf whistle as the girls lift their skirts to prevent them from getting wet. Mike, an English boy only three weeks into his stay in Australia, is hypnotised by the pale blonde beauty of Miranda. Marion, Irma and Edith, the school 'dunce' follow closely behind.

What happens then is a mystery. At the end of the afternoon a teacher and three pupils have disappeared, and Edith returns, screaming and incoherent. She cannot remember what's occurred and reluctantly, after a fruitless search for the missing ladies, the rest of the school party head home without them.

* Spooky sightings *

Firstly, Joan Lindsay has not made it clear at the start of the book whether this is a true story or not. We are told to decide for ourselves. According to the place that I visited, this story is fiction. But my goodness, when you read the book you will re-live all the horrors and guilt that various members of the school, staff and the witnesses go through.

Some of the questions that go unanswered are tantalisingly laid before the reader.

Why were only two of the party wearing watches, and why did both watches stop during the day?

Why was the area they disappeared in, which was small, not disturbed and why were no footprints found?

Where was Miss McCraw, the prudish teacher, and why did she set down her book and her kid gloves before she disappeared without a trace? Did she follow the four girls? And more importantly, why was she last seen only wearing her pantaloons - where was her dress?!

Even though there was an eyewitness (the intellectually challenged Edith), she remembers nothing and is left traumatised and bedridden for days after. Ignorance really *is* bliss!

The two boys, Mike and his coachman, Albert, are obviously the last people to see the girls and are questioned by the police. Mike is still haunted by the lovely Miranda. Even though he's only had a fleeting glimpse of her, he decides against everyone's wishes, to return to The Rock and conduct his own search. Exhausted and dehydrated he collapses, but his efforts were not in vain. His trusty pal Albert follows him and that's when he makes a startling discovery ….

* What I thought *

I loved this. OK so I had an interest in it anyway having been to the location and climbed that rock on Good Friday (there weren't many people about either *shudder*). It's a beautiful setting and one can see over the vineyards for miles. However, it's steep and treacherous and while I was there I could imagine the girls in their long dresses, exploring and giggling but what did they find? And what did Edith see that terrified her so?

I had already seen Peter Weir's film from the '70s and that is a perfect version of events. But I tried to put that out of my mind while reading the book even though the two are very similar. The girls actually play a very small part in the book but the reader is left with the aftermath of the people who were closely involved. The anguish, the tears, the time passing and the continual nightmares that haunt the staff are very real.

Once the gossip starts, Mrs Appleyard, the headmistress, has to take action and let the parents and guardians know what has happened to the missing girls. In fact, she is so worried herself that she has to take 'a nip or two of brandy from the cupboard behind the desk'. These three girls were among her finest students and this doesn't look good at all - for her *or* the school. Her desperate attempts to cheer the girls up by painting the boarder's sitting room 'a ghastly shade of strawberry pink' and installing a grand piano go unnoticed by many.

We get the impression at the start that the pupils are very connected. They kiss each other goodnight (?) although I can't remember ever doing that at *my* boarding school. Heck maybe things are different in Oz. <snigger> Anyway there is a definite hint of suppressed sexuality throughout, from the rustling dresses and the discarded clothing that is found after the disappearance to Albert and Mike's 'friendship' which is also very close. The film explores this a little better with the visual dreaminess but it is still apparent in the book.

It's hard to say which genre this book fits into but I'll settle for crime as the main story is the disappearance of the girls and a crime does occur - although it isn't what the reader may expect. But it also explores many other avenues such as class, friendship, loss, helplessness and grief. There is also an unrequited love story thrown in for good measure so this does keep the pages turning although it's all too brief and, at less than 200 pages, will be finished before you know it.

What I loved was the simple story that just laid down the foundation for a really good mystery and then expands into concentrating on the suffering of those left behind. Mike's dreams are disturbed by visions of Miranda and even after his accident, he thinks he sees her in odd places. After a while the reader doesn't know what's real and what's imaginary.

'He had just turned his back on the retreating dog-cart and was walking rather unsteadily across the lawn when his ear caught the splash of water coming from the direction of the lake, where a girl in a white dress was standing beside a giant clamshell that served as a birds' bath, under an oak. The face was turned away, but he knew her at once by the poise of the fair tilted head, and began running towards her with the sickening fear that she would be gone before he could reach her, as invariably happened in his troubled dreams'.

I loved my book. It was from the olden days, an ex-library copy with thick pages and lines that were typed round the wrong way, which just added to the general confusion of the story! I got it from Ebay and I've bid many a time for it over the past few years and not won it but it just goes to show that perseverance does pay off!

* Verdict *

Well it has to be five stars. I've had to search for this book but I'm so glad I finally got a chance to read it. This is a really different type of book, it's not a James Patterson violent read or a ghostly Dean Koontz or a Stephen King spectacular. Indeed, this book is out there on its own, different from anything else I've ever read.

It's a slow moving mystery which is subtle, rather clever and quaint. And it has largely gone unnoticed. I certainly had not even heard of it until a few years ago even though it was published in the late '60s. The language is a little stilted but because of the era, it fits in rather well and there are even a few little jokes and swear words that will keep you amused.

There are also excellent descriptions of the countryside, scenery and wildlife to set the mood and ensure you remember this is Australia we are reading about.

'Presently the possums came prancing out on to the dim moonlit slates of the roof. With squeals and grunts they wove obscenely about the squat base of the tower, dark against the paling sky'.

Whether the disappearance is ever resolved I shall not reveal. But to read about Appleyard School and the black cloud that lingered over it for years after was an enjoyable yet sinister read. The sense of eeriness remains throughout, right until you turn the final page. Highly recommended.

* Other info *

RRP £6.99 (play.com £5.49 with free delivery)
Publisher: Vintage (UK)
Paperback
192 pages
ISBN 0099750619

* About the author *

Joan Lindsay was born in St Kilda, Melbourne. Her husband is Sir Daryl Lindsay. She died in 1984.

Thanks for reading.

Summary: A day out ends in tragedy ...