Manon Lescaut is a novel by Antoine François Prévost, first published in 1731. The story is set in France and Louisiana in the early 18th century. The Chevalier des Grieux is a young philosophy student from a noble family who runs away with Manon on her way to a convent. The young couple live together in Paris, but Des Grieux has been disinherited by his father, and money troubles ruin their happiness. The book was seen as controversial in its time and was banned in France when first published.   Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles (1697 – 1763) was a French author and novelist. In 1720 he joined the Benedictines of St Maur, after an unfortunate love affair, leaving some biographers to speculate that the story of Manon and Des Grieux may have had some basis in the author’s own life Published by Penguin Classics, 1949. A good clean reading copy.