"'Today girls,' said Miss Renshaw, we shall go out into the beautiful garden and think about DEATH.'" [P3] From the opening we know that sinister things will happen.
The vast majority of the story takes place at a private school for girls in Sydney, Australia during 1967 while the Vietnam War was going on. Our story concerns the teacher, Miss Renshaw, and the eleven girls in her elementary class named Cubby, Icara, Martine, Bethany, Georgina, Cynthia, Dierdre, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth. The four Elizabeths are given no last names, and only differentiated by physical characteristics as height and hair style.
It seems that Ms. Renshaw has more than a passing interest in Morgan, the groundskeeper at the Ena Thompson Memorial Gardens where she regularly takes the girls on nature trips. She makes the girls complicit in her romantic diversions by telling them, "We won't mention these meetings with Morgan or other stuff will we girls...We won't mention Morgan." [p19] But the girls were a lot smarter than Miss Renshaw gave them credit for, as "They all knew...the real reason Miss Renshaw want to go out into the gardens that morning. It was not to think about death. Miss Renshaw wanted to see Morgan."
Soon after Miss Renshaw takes her class, with Morgan leading them, to some nearby Aboriginal caves supposedly to see the cave drawings at which time she and Morgan vanish. Yet as the girls pledged not to reveal anything about Morgan, they can't fully tell what happens to the authorities. The rest of the book is about just what happened and how it affects each of their lives.
The book is a close copy of an earlier book along very similar lines which was originally released by another Australian author Joan W. Lindsay in 1967 and was called PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK
Picnic at Hanging Rock
after which a 1975 movie also titled
Picnic at Hanging Rock (The Criterion Collection)
by Peter Weir was made. The only major plot difference between those two items and the current story is that in the PICNIC version the story takes place on Valentines Day of 1900 and two girls plus a teacher go missing. That book and the movie are also highly recommended.
Later in this story the girls get into a lively discussion about whether ghosts really exist, and if they do, can they live outdoors or must they be confined to interiors. The relevance of this doesn't become important until near the end of the book, so I won't spoil it for you, but do pay attention to who says what about it. Here it differs from the PICNIC book version.
The current story is very well told with a somewhat feminine and romantic writing style that imparts enough mystery to attract adults interested in some good clean scary storytelling. Highly recommended.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Flip to back Flip to front
Follow the Author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries
D_shrink
Strange, Scary Things can happen while at school
Reviewed in the United States on 17 August 2013Verified Purchase
Kindle Customer
"Into the beautiful garden."
Reviewed in the United States on 17 August 2013Verified Purchase
Cinnamon Burke
Lovely writing, little story.
Reviewed in the United States on 21 June 2015Verified Purchase
AB
Not a classic
Reviewed in the United States on 23 May 2018Verified Purchase
Nicola Taylor
Inter-textual masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on 1 September 2015Verified Purchase
