Manon Lescaut (Unabridged‪)‬

Manon is just about to enter a convent when she meets the young Chevalier des Grieux, a philosophy student. They flee to Paris together, where they live extravagantly off the money the Chevalier makes cheating at cards, until they are robbed of their possessions. Manon becomes mistress to a wealthy nobleman, and she and the Chevalier steal his money. They are captured and sent to a penal colony in Louisiana.

Author Antoine-Françoise Prévost d'Exiles, a Jesuit novice turned soldier turned priest, led nearly as exciting a life as his swashbuckling heroes.