'The sweetness of her glance or rather, my evil star already in itsascendant and drawing me to my ruin did not allow me to hesitatefor a moment...' So begins the story of Manon Lescaut, a tale ofpassion and betrayal, of delinquency and misalliance, which movesfrom early 18th-century Paris with its theatres, assemblies, andgaming-houses via prison and deportation to a tragic denouementin the treeless wastes of Louisiana. It is one of the great love stories,and also one of the most enigmatic: how reliable a witness is DesGrieux, Manon's lover, whose tale he narrates? Is Manon a thief anda whore, the image of love itself, or a thoroughly modern woman?Prevost is careful to leave the ambiguities unresolved, and to lay barethe disorders of passion.
