The Scapegoat (Virago Modern Classics)

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One of the great joys of growing in Cornwall at the time I did was that Daphne Du Maurier’s books were everywhere; because she was a renowned author who was still living and writing at her much loved home on the Cornish coast. He finds that he has none of his own papers and possessions, but that he does have those of a certain Jean de Gue. At the tail end of a tour in this country, John has fallen victim to a feeling of melancholy, of failure. It was a butterfly, the last of the long summer, woken by sunshine, seeking escape from the cobwebs that imprisoned it. There's a fair amount of suspension of disbelief that is required on the part of the reader, but du Maurier is so skilled at engaging us, there were very few times that I stopped or scratched my head.

Not only does he have to have to think carefully about every word and every action, he has to deal with situations and relationships that he lacks the skill and experience to handle, and that forces him to think deeply about his own motives and actions. Indeed in her own life, she seems to have had an almost obsessive love for her "Menabilly" the house she rented for so many years. In fact it is neither a straightforward adventure story as in Anthony Hope's tale, nor a dark study of two individuals; personalities within the same body, as in Robert Louis Stevenson's classic horror story. The two men talk, they drink together, and John remembers nothing more until he wakes in a hotel room. Years of study, years of training, the fluency with which I spoke their language, taught their history, described their culture, had never brought me closer to the people themselves.If only human relationships were straightforward, with little or no difficulties, no web of intricacies to disentangle. Daphne du Maurier was born on 13 May 1907 at 24 Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park, London, the middle of three daughters of prominent actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel, née Beaumont.

In this post WWII setting, the three generations live in genteel poverty amid bitterness and a failing glass factory. On top of that, John finds that he is received into a family that is full of secrets and that maintains an uneasy and complex interrelationship between its members.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. From the neglected pregnant wife and the hostile elder sister to the resentful younger brother and the religious ten-year-old daughter, every character is well-drawn and memorable. Originally, in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, the High Priest confessed the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement over the head of a live goat which was then allowed to escape, taking the sins with it. Or, have many people counting on you - wife - mother - daughter - brother - sister-in-law- friends with benefits - business associates- and feel resentful? But, when the story of deception begins, instead of it being suspenseful and intriguing, the whole structure collapses with the story stepping onto unrealistic grounds and taking a monotonous path.

That’s a good idea to read du Maurier’s works slowly because she has a number of good books and it is best to savour them!Don’t know that one Liz but the reading group read the excellent My Cousin Rachel recently and I used Rebecca in a WEA Romantic Novel course. French language academic John is astonished to bump into his exact doppelganger at a provincial French train station.

Oh and that’s just the beginning…he inherits a precocious 11-year old daughter, a sister-in-law (who he is having an affair with), a valet, a mistress, a glass factory that is floundering… And given this is a du Maurier novel there have been sinister things happening well into the past…that this Englishman now fake Frenchman is going to have to deal with. Perhaps John is Jean de Gué’s scapegoat, or maybe another is fulfilling this role in the drama that plays out in this wounded family. And if you could step into one of these men's lives - by trading places --as a stranger/ actor taking over the role. It wasn't even what I thought it would be about when I had so many times passed it over for something else. When John, an Englishman whose area of expertise is France, meets his doppelganger, the Comte Jean de Gue, he finds himself unexpectedly tricked into trading places.There was some building-up towards the end, but, any effect it might have on the story was destroyed by the anti-climactic end. But stranger still is the fact that I slowly became drawn into the story and significantly invested in the outcome. Next, you might actually begin to think that you can help these people if you can just avoid detection long enough. All the while, though the reader is hoping this man will succeed, du Maurier in her inimitable fashion leaves you feeling that it cannot possibly end well. I knew that what had happened on a dark night nearly fifteen years ago had not come about by chance but was something planned and done deliberately by a man without heart or feeling, who saw perhaps, in the other someone finer than himself possessing.