Picnic at Hanging Rock
by Joan Lindsay
This deliciously horrific Australian thriller, set in 1900, could be seen as an anti-picnic cautionary tale. Three schoolgirls disappear – drawn by the malevolent Hanging Rock. One wonders why the teachers chose the rock – known for its “poisonous ants” – as a picnic spot. Still, as last lunches go, the picnic is palatable. A zinc-lined wicker basket in the shade of a gum tree keeps milk and lemonade “deliciously cool”. There is chicken pie, a handsome, heart-shaped cake (it is Valentine’s Day) and, less irresistibly, “tepid bananas inseparable from an Australian picnic”
by Joan Lindsay
This deliciously horrific Australian thriller, set in 1900, could be seen as an anti-picnic cautionary tale. Three schoolgirls disappear – drawn by the malevolent Hanging Rock. One wonders why the teachers chose the rock – known for its “poisonous ants” – as a picnic spot. Still, as last lunches go, the picnic is palatable. A zinc-lined wicker basket in the shade of a gum tree keeps milk and lemonade “deliciously cool”. There is chicken pie, a handsome, heart-shaped cake (it is Valentine’s Day) and, less irresistibly, “tepid bananas inseparable from an Australian picnic”
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