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.
