Picnic at Hanging Rock

Against the backdrop of a hot St. Valentine’s Day in early-1900s Victoria, the stern Mrs Appleyard’s girls from the strict Appleyard College prepare for a field trip to Hanging Rock–the majestic volcanic formation near Mount Macedon. Under the scorching sun, three students–Miranda, Marion, and Irma–receive permission to explore the rock only to go missing later that day, and what is even more disturbing, when a fourth girl, Edith, returns screaming, the school teacher, Miss McCraw, disappears without a trace. The four women seem to have vanished into thin air. What has truly happened in Hanging Rock’s deep and sharp crevices?—Nick Riganas