El chivo expiatorio

An English history teacher, single and middle-aged, spends, like every year, his holidays in France. At Le Mans he meets a very unique type of bearing: he is Count Jean le Gué and physically he is his perfect double. Amazed by the resemblance, they get drunk together and share their misfortunes. The next morning, John wakes up in a seedy hotel, his things have been replaced by those of the Count de Gué, and he suddenly finds himself at the helm of a rugged family, a dilapidated business and a new identity always in danger of being unmasked. In The Scapegoat (1957), Daphne du Maurier constructs a complex novel, full of suspense and moral ambiguities.