Picnic At Hanging Rock

On Valentine's Day, 1900, the girls of the exclusive boarding school Appleyard College finally make the long-awaited trip to Hanging Rock, an ancient and mythical volcanic cliff in the middle of the Australian bush. Bubbling with anticipation, dressed in their finest clothes and with a promise to even take off their gloves and lace-up boots once they're on their way, the girls take their seats in the carriage. As they approach the cliff, they realize that none of them has ever seen such a mysterious and impressive mountain before. A few hours later, the picnic lunch is eaten, but before heading home, some of the girls want to take a closer look at the rock. They jump over a narrow stream and disappear into the base of the cliff - never to return.

A cult classic

Joan Lindsay's "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1967) centers on the disappearance of three girls and a math teacher in the Australian outback. "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is a gothic psychological thriller about the unreliability of reality and memory, about forbidden games and secret lives, about longing and waiting for girlhood to end and real life to begin.

In Australia, the book is considered a modern classic, a cult book that has been made into a movie (1975, directed by Peter Weir) and several TV series. The book was not published in Swedish until 2022, but then receiving great attention. For her translation, Maria Lundgren received the Swedish Writers' Union's Translation of the Year award. On February 28, 2025, the Scandinavian premiere of “Picnic at Hanging Rock” will take place at Teater Halland in a dramatization by Tom Wright and directed by Carolina Frände.

"Picnic at Hanging Rock" is persented in agreement with Nick Hern Books Ltd and Jane Novak Literary Agency.

Creative team