The Scapegoat
The Scapegoat
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Desc: By chance John and Jean--one English the other French--meet in a provincial railway station. Their resemblance to each other is uncanny and they spend the next few hours talking and drinking - until at last John falls into a drunken stupor. It's to be his last carefree moment for when he wakes Jean has stolen his identity and disappeared. So the Englishman steps into the Frenchman's shoes and faces a variety of perplexing roles - as owner of a chateau director of a failing business head of a fractious family and master of nothing. Gripping and complex The Scapegoat is a masterful exploration of doubling and identity and of the dark side of the self.