Picnic at Hanging Rock

This is probably the most famous Australian novel, certainly the film based on it is well known. I loved the film and so I had always thought I should read it, but I didn't find it anywhere until I went to Australia and bought an old Penguin edition. The descriptive writing is excellent and although most of the characters are not particularly well developed, it is the story itself that is compelling. It gives an insight into Edwardian life in Australia as one of Britain's colonies, and 'polite society' of the time. It's one of the most enjoyable reads of… show more.

One St. Valentine’s Day in 1900, the schoolgirls of Appleyard College go on a picnic. Four of them walk up the mountain and into the rocks.

Three of them don’t return, and they are never seen again. Lindsay’s novel delineates the before, during, and after of their disappearance. Her critique of Victorian stodginess and hypocrisy is incisive; her harsh Australian bush country descriptions are beautiful.

The mood of the novel is thrillingly creepy, its tension sustained by the inexorable unraveling of a mystery that reveals only … more mysteries!

If you love all things Down Under, as I do,… show more.

Finally, a serious, sombre book, and a modern classic. Set at a strict boarding school for girls, Appleyard College in Australia, it tells the story of an ill-fated outing to a local beauty spot at which a teacher and two pupils go missing. Lindsay brilliantly sets up the mystery with all kinds of backstories, and (plot spoiler alert) it’s never truly resolved, but the haunting story lingers with the reader long after they’ve finished the book. This has also been made into a film, but as always, it’s worth reading the original story – Lindsay’s writing is as evocative as… show more.