White Rabbit

White Rabbit Synopsis

With his life in complete meltdown in this world, Simon Cadwallader finds himself unexpectedly transported into an alternative reality. Hallucinogenic dream or a parallel universe? Either way, he arrives completely disorientated and with no memory of his previous life – not even his own name. As he gradually gets his bearings, it becomes apparent that our amnesiac hero is an unwitting participant in a game about which he knows nothing. Indeed, as the story unfolds, the absolutely pivotal nature of his role in this game becomes disturbingly clear, as does the multitude of attendant dangers. There are of course other players in the great game, such as Miss Leggett, the Under Manager for the Company, and Norbert Dentressangle, the handsome and charming Frenchman(woman) who claims to be his dearest and most faithful friend – and who can switch gender at will. And then there is plethora of strange beings – including a clothes peg and a giant flatworm – who seem to be servants of the government (the Secretariat) and who are distinguished by their incessant exhorting of him to search for an enigmatic female Janus, The Woman Who Looks Both Ways. But it is the final player in the game – his own doppelgänger – that is the most worrying of all. In particular, what is the nature of his own relationship to this baleful creature – 'two sides of the same coin', he is told, 'two halves of the same whole' – and can something so like him really be the monster of evil that it appears to be? A key theme is Cadwallader's gradual growth in confidence as the plot progresses, enabling him to discover the true nature of the Company's and Dentressangle's intentions, and to foil their nefarious schemes. This growth in confidence is accompanied by the hero's discovery of the nature of the world in which he finds himself, its residents, and its relationship with his own world. Cadwallader discovers early in the story that the Under Manager is definitely not on his side and indeed entices him into a confrontation with his doppelgänger that, if Miss Leggett's plan had been successful, would have resulted in the destruction of both of them. Another of the key threads of the plot is Cadwallader's realisation that his doppelgänger is not a monster to be hated, but another aspect of himself with whom some form of unity must eventually be achieved. It becomes apparent that The Woman Who Looks Both Ways is the only means by which anyone – including our hero, together with his doppelgänger – can travel from 'over here' (as the denizens of the parallel universe refer to their home) to 'over there' (our world). Cadwallader also soon discovers that only he can find this creature – which is why he was transported for 'there' to 'here' in the first place, and which is why he is so pivotal to the schemes of so many players. We discover that Mr Stobart lives 'over there', a fact that – for reasons that are not made clear – gives him considerable power 'over here'. The discovery of The Woman Who Looks Both Ways could enable others to travel to 'over there', thereby threatening Stobart's monopoly on this source of power, which is why the Company's employees are so keen to prevent her falling into anyone else's hands, first by trying to destroy our hero (and his doppelgänger), thereby preventing the discovery of the double woman, and then, when this scheme has failed, by trying to coerce Cadwallader into finding her for them. Cadwallader eventually discovers that it is a feature of travellers from 'there' to 'here' to split into two identical beings on arrival, and also for each doppelgänger to passionately loathe the other. If the two doppelgängers come into contact – for example if their mutual loathing results in a physical conflict – then both are destroyed. Moreover, if one doppelgänger is lost, then the remaining 'half' is reduced to a phantom, condemned to wander the world for evermore as a lost soul. Our hero has repeated encounters with one of these phantoms, who provides him with some of the history of 'here'/ 'there' interactions. It transpires that Dentressangle, like Cadwallader, is a traveller from 'over there' and like our hero has a doppelgänger that he loathes. Moreover, Dentressangle's doppelgänger shares his ability to change gender, resulting in four manifestations of the Frenchman(woman), two male and two female. There were once many travellers from 'over there', but now only Dentressangle (and his/her doppelgänger) remain – until the arrival of Cadwallader (and his doppelgänger) that is. Throughout the novel Dentressangle is trying to persuade our hero that he/she is an ally and is helping to find The Woman Who Looks Both Ways for our hero's benefit. It eventually becomes clear, however, that in truth Frenchman wishes to use the double woman for his own purposes, namely to use her to travel back himself to 'over there' in order to challenge Mr Stobart and claim Stobart's monopolistic power for himself. Although they can be frustratingly obtuse and often unhelpful, Cadwallader realises that the Secretariat really is trying to help him find The Woman Who Looks Both Ways. A key feature of the plot is our hero being directed from one member of the Secretariat to another (including a subterranean deer, a giant flatworm, and an oversized pig), each one revealing more and more about the double woman and how to find her. Another key member of the Secretariat is a beautiful young woman who was involved in bringing Cadwallader into this parallel world and who then reappears repeatedly to guide him and to help him escape the clutches of Dentressangle or employees of the Company. Although never explicitly revealed to the reader, it becomes apparent that Cadwallader's doppelgänger is experiencing a series of adventures parallel to his own, in which Dentressangle (and his/her doppelgänger), Miss Leggett, and the Secretariat are involved (off-stage, as it were). At the end of the story, the hero and Dentressangle – in her female form – have an unintended sexual encounter, whilst at the same time it becomes apparent that Cadwallader's and Dentressangle's doppelgängers (the latter also in female form) are doing the same. During this passionate coupling Dentressangle and her doppelgänger fall and collide back to back, fusing one into the other and creating, for a fraction of a second, a woman with two faces – the long searched for The Woman Who Looks Both Ways. This fused creature then collapses in on herself, pulling our hero and his doppelgänger into one another – with the result that Cadwallader is returned, as a single entity, to our own world. It is implied that Dentressangle and her doppelgänger have been destroyed in this encounter. In the final pages of the novel – the epilogue – the hero is contacted by a recruitment agent offering him a very senior position in Mr Stobart's organisation. He refuses, the implication being that he is now a competitor of the Company.

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