Joan Lindsay

"Everyone agreed that the day was just right for the picnic to — a shimmering summer morning warm and still, with s shrilling all through breakfast from the outside the dining-room windows and bees murmuring above the pansies bordering the drive. ... The boarders at Mrs Appleby's College for Young Ladies had been up and scanning the bright unclouded sky since six o'clock and were now fluttering about in their holiday s like a flock of excited butterflies. Not only was it a Saturday and the long awaited occasion of the annual picnic, but Saint Valentine's Day, traditionally celebrated on the fourteenth of February by the interchange of elaborate cards and favours."

"... it was written as a mystery, and it remains a mystery. ... like dropping a stone into water ..."

"There’s a version of Lindsay’s life story that is defined by the men in her life. She was the daughter of a judge and the granddaughter of a state governor. She was married to painter , the director of the between 1942 and 1956, and later knighted for his services to the arts. Novelist was her cousin, was her drawing teacher and her friend launched Picnic at Hanging Rock."

"Had Lindsay not written ', she might now be simply described as the enigmatic and charming wife of – artist and director of the – hostess of their rural mansion , a minor writer and artist renowned for her skills in hospitality and flower arrangement."