Joan Lindsay Boeken

Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century Australia, the story revolves around the mysterious disappearance of schoolgirls during a picnic at Hanging Rock. The narrative weaves together elements of nostalgia and intrigue, capturing the social dynamics of the time. Notably, the final chapter, intentionally omitted by the author’s publishers, has left readers yearning for answers about the fate of the girls, enhancing the novel’s enigmatic allure and sparking endless speculation and discussion.

The world-renowned architecture of Chicago is captured in this collection of 60 stunning color photographs taken from the unique perspective of the Chicago River. Additional classic photographs and city history make for an engaging virtual boat tour. Home to sleek, contemporary skyscrapers and majestic, neoclassical buildings, downtown Chicago’s riverfront features views unseen anywhere else in the city once called "Paris on the Prairie.” Readers from Chicago and elsewhere will find themselves engrossed by the cityscape's dynamic character and ongoing development.

'Don't worry about us, Mam'selle dear,' smiled Miranda. 'We shall only be gone a very little while.' Every so often, there comes a story so brilliant and lively and moving that it cannot be left in the past. Rediscover the magic of our country's most memorable children's books in the Penguin Australia Children's Classics series of stories too precious to leave behind.

It was a cloudless summer day in the year nineteen hundred. Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three of the girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of Hanging Rock. Further, higher, till at last they disappeared. They never returned. Whether "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is fact or fiction the reader must decide for themselves.

Chapter 18 of Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock, excised by the publisher, with commentaries.