The Scapegoat (Virago Modern Classics)

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I think even the most skeptical readers can suspend disbelief, in this masterfully written fiction novel), . Another thing I love about Daphne du Maurier's writing is her ability to always keep the reader guessing right to the final page (and sometimes afterwards too). There he meets his doppelgänger's family: Jean's feeble, pregnant wife Françoise and over-imaginative young daughter Marie-Noel; his dull brother Paul and embittered sister Blanche; Paul's frustrated wife (and Jean's mistress) Renée; and Jean's elderly, morphine-addicted mother.

Next thing he knows, he’s been duped, tricked and drugged and is faced with the temptation of taking on a different person’s life – someone with a full life, living in a chateau with a large extended family, but also someone who turns out to be Not Very Nice, having led an idle life of minor cruelties, complete with wife and two mistresses, not engaging in the family firm; a wastrel. Marie-Noel seems over-eager to sacrifice herself for her father, as does Françoise, the Count's wife. You will need to seriously suspend disbelief for this story as it’s highly implausible and yet it had me intrigued from start to finish. And here du Maurier is her usual expert self at both instilling alarm and suspense and also at the details.When Virago started reissuing those books I was astonished to learn that all but one was out of print. Thus none of the French associations are there, and in fact the story is entirely different, with different characters, different major and critical episodes - and even a different ending! There is also another way to interpret the story, one which goes deeper into the psychology of identity - I won't say any more about that here, but if you read the book this theory may occur to you too.

Adrian Harrington Rare Books deal in a wide selection of literature, modern first editions, leather bound library sets, children's and illustrated books and fine and rare antiquarian and old books in all fields.The edition I got was by the University of Pennsylvania Press, and it was already in its 5th printing. De férias em França, vê-se dum dia para o outro no lugar de um sósia e sente-se, nem ele próprio sabe porquê, compelido a manter essa situação, praticamente insustentável. Não estava nada à espera de ficar completamente agarrada a esta história, mas a partir de determinada altura foi mesmo isso que aconteceu e não queria saber de mais nada a não ser o que iria acontecer em St. He determines to use his family position as a tool, to influence both the workers in the factory, and "his" individual family member's lives for the better.

John is left to himself in a strange château, with a strange new identity and even stranger new family. Memo to myself: don’t be so dismissive of books written before I was born – I can learn much from them and the medicine to cure my phobia is simple enough, seek out my next one PDQ.

The image used in the site header is a fragment from Benozzo Gozzoli's fresco Procession of the Magi. John learns that Maurice Duval, former head of the glassworks, was killed during the German Occupation.

The two men talk, they drink together, and John remembers nothing more until he wakes in a hotel room. She continued writing under her maiden name, and her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame.He finds that he has none of his own papers and possessions, but that he does have those of a certain Jean de Gue. It was also the basis of a film broadcast in 2012 starring Matthew Rhys and written and directed by Charles Sturridge. Jean, on the other hand, describes himself as a "family man" who evidently doesn't enjoy the title and is only too happy to jump ship.