by Joan Lindsay
Once upon a time, this classic mystery about the disappearance of some schoolgirls and one of their teachers in 1900s Australia had a final chapter that explained the disappearances. Lindsay’s publisher told her to cut it because it ruined the novel’s mystique. And cutting the last chapter turned ou...
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a small book, only 224 pages, that packs an outsize punch. I can’t remember where I stumbled on it – if it was through blogging or goodreads, or just by following one of the bookish rabbit trails that I find myself chasing when I start looking at books. It’s set in Australi...
13/4 - I read this about seven years ago, long before I found GR or made an effort to write more than a line or two declaring "I liked this" or "I didn't like this". So, it's been sitting on my 'reread to review' shelf for ages, waiting for me to find the right motivation to read it again. I finally...
I almost want to give this book 5 stars, something I never would have expected when reading through the first few chapters, or even after finishing the book entirely for god's sake, but I won't. As much I eventually grew to not quite love (but something close to it) this book, it has infuriating cha...
I had a weird little moment a couple of weeks ago. I was on the ferry from Townsville, heading towards Magnetic Island for the first time. When the boat picked up speed, there was a strange high-pitched whistling of wind through a metal fitting. The whistling and the wind whipping our faces made it ...
Very much a novel of its age. But looking backwards rather than forward. "Picnic at Hanging Rock" made me think of Muriel Spark and Louisa May Alcott, but the Australian girls/little women here have very little sense of humor and much more mannerism. The writing here is rather plain in the worst sen...