Book description
By chance, two men - one English, the other French - meet in a
provincial railway station. Their physical resemblance is uncanny, and
they spend the next few hours talking and drinking - until at last
John, the Englishman, falls into a drunken stupour. It's to be his
last carefree moment, for when he wakes, his French companion has
stolen his identity and disappeared. So John 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.
Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) was born in London, educated at home and
in Paris, and lived for much of her life in her beloved Cornwall, the
setting for many of her novels. Most of her novels have been bestsellers
and many have been made into films. She is considered one of the most
accomplished novelists of the twentieth century.
