The Scapegoat

In "a dazzlingly clever and immensely entertaining novel," an Englishman switches lives with his doppelganger, a French count with a dysfunctional family (New York Times) .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."What a magnificent thriller this is." - The New York Times Book ReviewPraise for Daphne Du Maurier:"No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of "real literature," something very few novelists ever do." -- Margaret Forster, author of Daphne Du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller"She wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality" - The Guardian