6 h 58 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 58 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What would you give up for someone you cannot bear to lose—family, faith, honor, or your future?
The Chevalier des Grieux is clever, well born, and destined for the Church. Then he meets Manon Lescaut at an inn in Amiens. He is seventeen; she is sixteen. Their love takes them to Paris, where his money buys a brief spell of pleasure, but cannot promise the comfort and security Manon craves.
In Abbé Prévost’s short French novel, passion leads to flight, gambling, prison, and quarrels with family. The Marquis de Renoncour records des Grieux’s account, giving us a lover’s story shaped by regret. As his steady friend Tiberge offers help and honest advice, des Grieux faces a question: what does he owe to love, and what does love excuse?
What you’ll discover
- A future put at risk Follow a gifted young man as his attachment to Manon threatens everything expected of him.
- Love seen through regret Hear des Grieux tell his own story, calling his weakness fate.
- Pleasure with a price Enter a Paris where rented rooms, dwindling money, and costly desires put love under pressure.
- A friend who stays Meet Tiberge, whose repeated help and honest counsel stand against des Grieux’s reckless choices.
- Manon through his eyes Consider a woman who loves des Grieux yet also longs for comfort, pleasure, and security.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy obsessive love, sudden reversals of fortune, daring escapes and heartfelt narration will love this book. It also draws those curious about eighteenth century France.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A chained girl at Passy opens the tale
- Love at first sight leads to flight
- Manon's betrayal and the road to the seminary
- Fire, a brother and the first dishonest money
- Servants steal and Manon leaves a note
- St. Lazare, a pistol and a plan
- Rescuing Manon from the Magdalen
- The prince, the mirror and the second G—— M——
- Passion and virtue argue in one heart
- Money, class and an inconstant heart
- A story told by the man who lived it
Who’s who
- Chevalier des GrieuxA gifted young nobleman who gives up family, career and honor for Manon and tells his own story.
- Manon LescautA beautiful girl of humble birth who loves Des Grieux but cannot bear poverty and keeps seeking richer protectors.
- TibergeDes Grieux's loyal friend, who lends him money and advice and never stops trying to bring him back to a good life.
- LescautManon's brother, a rough guardsman who gambles and schemes and treats his sister as a means to money.
- Old G—— M——A rich, vain old man whose pursuit of Manon leads him to have the lovers locked up.
- Young G—— M——The old man's son, charming and generous, who falls in love with Manon and becomes Des Grieux's rival.
- M. de T——A young man of good family and a director's son, who becomes Des Grieux's friend and helps him free Manon.
- Des Grieux's fatherA stern but loving nobleman who locks his son up, forgives him and then hardens his heart again.
Formats and delivery
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
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Manon Lescaut
by Abbé Prévost · 1731
A young nobleman follows a chained girl across France, and each sacrifice pulls him further into ruin.
Medium level2–5 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
What would you give up for the person you love? A young French nobleman in this book gives everything, and then he keeps on giving.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A chained girl at Passy opens the tale
A man of quality tells how he first met the Chevalier des Grieux. Returning from Rouen, he stops at Passy and finds the town crowding round an inn. Twelve women are chained in two rows, watched by six archers who will take them to a ship for America. One of them looks so refined that she might be of noble birth.
A guard says a young man has followed her all the way from Paris, weeping the whole time. He says he loves her so much that he will board the ship with her. The traveler gives him four louis d'or, pays the guards so the lovers may talk, and rides off.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1731
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 4 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Prévost, Abbé. Manon Lescaut. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/manon-lescaut.
Prévost, A. (2026). Manon Lescaut. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/manon-lescaut (Original work published 1731)
Prévost, Abbé. Manon Lescaut. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/manon-lescaut.
@book{prevost2026manon,
author = {Prévost, Abbé},
title = {Manon Lescaut},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/manon-lescaut},
note = {First published 1731}
}
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What is Manon Lescaut about?
It tells of the Chevalier des Grieux, a young nobleman who meets Manon Lescaut at seventeen and gives up everything for her. They live through poverty, gambling, deception and police, while he tries again and again to win her back.
Who is the narrator of Manon Lescaut?
A man of quality opens the book and says what he saw at Passy. Most of the story is told by Des Grieux himself, who tells his own faults and feelings directly to this listener, which gives the book a confessional voice.
Is Manon Lescaut based on a true story?
It is a novel by the Abbé Prévost, published in 1731. Prévost presents it as a memoir written down from a young man's words, but the characters and events are invented, and the setting is the Paris of the early eighteenth century.
The author
Abbé Prévost
1697–1763 · French novelist
Abbé Prévost was a French novelist and priest, born in Hesdin in 1697. His name was Antoine François Prévost. He lived in France, England and the Netherlands. He wrote novels, including Manon Lescaut, which was published in 1731. He died in France in 1763.
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