Picnic at Hanging Rock Audiobook By Joan Lindsay cover art

Picnic at Hanging Rock

TV Tie-In Edition

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options
Buy for $19.32

Buy for $19.32

Now a major television series starring Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) And Yael Stone (Orange Is the New Black).

A haunting and enigmatic tale that will keep you awake and wondering long after you've finished this classic mystery.

Everyone agreed that the day was just right for the picnic to Hanging Rock - a shimmering summer morning warm and still, with cicadas shrilling....

St Valentine’s Day, in the midst of the hot summer of 1900, a party of schoolgirls went on a picnic to Hanging Rock. Some were never to return....

In this Australian classic, the disappearance of three girls and a schoolteacher at Hanging Rock has captivated and intrigued audiences for generations. Jacqueline McKenzie’s interpretation of the best-selling novel captures all of the beauty of the Rock and illustrates the eerie sense of the unknown for which the story is legendary.

©1967 Joan Lindsay (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Thriller & Suspense Mystery Historical Psychological International Mystery & Crime Classics Crime Fiction

People who viewed this also viewed...

Picnic at Hanging Rock Audiobook By Joan Lindsay cover art
Picnic at Hanging Rock By: Joan Lindsay
Atmospheric Storytelling • Eerie Aesthetic • Excellent Character Differentiation • Excellent Voice Acting • Mysterious Plot

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
Absorbing. Well written, imaginative and colorful. The reading is spot on and wonderfully evocative. The narrative pulls one in.

First Rate

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I listened to the Audible version of this book while following along with the Kindle version of this book because I’ve been wanting to read this boo for several years now. I finally got around to it. lol

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

This novel follows the aftermath of the disappearance of 4 young women (3 students of a finishing school and a governess) from the Hanging Rock in the Australian bush.

How did they disappear and where did they go? Where does this leave the headmistress of the school the young women were attending when the women don’t return?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I enjoyed the creepy aesthetic that was in the back of my mind throughout most of this book. I’ll admit to that really quickly. I noticed the same thing during the Amazon show with Natalie Dormer. (I think I spelled her first name wrong.)

I’ll admit as well, though, that I got bored rather early on. I knew what happened at the end of the book and knew from the beginning how it would end but I was still kind of disappointed about that.

I’m glad I picked up the Audible version of this book as well because I have a hard time with books like this one in terms of the language used. I have a hard time with books like Dracula and Pride and Prejudice for the same reason.

If the language is flowery at all, I get lost rather fast and this was no exception to that rule, it seems. I tend to lose my way rather quickly but I shouldn’t have gotten lost with this one. Oh well. I’m glad I had it read to me instead. That makes it easier.

I also picked up the book with the last chapter in it so I can find out what really happened to the girls and governess who disappeared. I felt like the ambiguity of the original ending rubbed me the wrong way if that makes sense.

I noticed a lot of petulance from some of the girls, which also rubbed me the wrong way. I preferred the portrayal Natalie gave to the headmistress as well, as I found the novel version reminded me of Ms. Trunchbull from Matilda. Yes, I went there. lol

Would I recommend this book? I guess so, if you want a good mystery with an ending that’s a fair bit disappointing. Yes, I know the author didn’t want the ending revealed until after her death. I feel that makes the book better in a sense.

It was okay.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Picnic at Hanging Rock has always been one of my favorite movies and was gob smacked that there is a book! I never once thought that the book could be so wonderful. I was wrong. The book is so good that if you have any thought to listen, do it!

The Picnic at Hanging Rock

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a strange, compelling, beautiful, and also dull read. I just don't know what to make of it. The basic story, that of a teacher and students who disappear on an afternoon visit to the local geological wonder, is interesting, although we are given only a basic character sketch for them. It's really more the story of the side character ensemble affected by their disappearance. The bored young man, rebelling against upper class expectations, who is fascinated after only a glimpse of the girls as they passed by, but even more fascinated by his family's groom, a good hearted but coarse young man haunted by his childhood in an orphanage and the sister he lost there. The school's headmistress, coldly calculating. The pretty young French teacher, escaping to her love. And floating through it all is Miranda, one of the missing girls, who we really only know through the reflection of all these others. She's really more of an idea than a character.

I'm rambling all over this review, much as the story rambles all over the events and characters. I still am struggling to explain how the story could be so interesting, yet I frequently lost interest in it and would put it away for a week at a time. I think I even took a month break before finishing the last two chapters, even forgetting that I was reading it.

Audiobook, with a good performance by Yael Stone. I came to this book by way of the movie, which is similarly fascinating and dull and hard to finish.

Strange, compelling, and beautiful. Also dull.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I went into this book knowing that there was no resolution to the girl's story. I was a bit afraid of this since I am one who usually likes an ending. It doesn't necessarily have to be the ending I want, it just has to have a resolution. While there was no resolution to the initial story line, it turns out this book wasn't about that. It was more about the impact of this event on the girls and on the rest of the individuals the event touched. Kind of like plopping a stone into a lake and watching the concentric circles expand out towards the shoreline. For me, the main impacts are on the girls, their families, and the head mistress of the school. I will say that by and large the effects were pretty traumatic. There was an undertone of the civilized vs. uncivilized in the story, but it didn't seem to go anywhere. The individuals who ascend the Rock discard their shoes and socks, their skirt in one instance and their corset in another instance, but we never really see this developed past that point. Anyone who returns from the Rock has no memory of what occurred while they were there. This felt like a bit of lost opportunity for the story. The parts that are related to us felt uneven to me - maybe a pacing issue? Hard to tell if it was pacing as the entire book is a bit murky and dreamlike. It could have just been uneven writing. Some parts were really intriguing and well-written while others just dragged without giving much development to the story. Overall, maybe a 3.5 for me, but not good enough for me to round up.

Atmosphere good. Story lacking a bit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews