One of the earliest and most vivid female narrators in the history of the English novel, Moll Flanders recounts her adventures with irresistible wit and candor, and enough guile that the reader is left uncertain whether or not she is ultimately a redeemed sinner.
Born and abandoned in Newgate Prison, Moll is forced to make her own way in life. She duly embarks on a career that includes bigamy, incest, prostitution, husband hunting, and pick-pocketing, until her crimes eventually catch up with her.
We quickly come to understand that Moll has no choice but to scheme and sin in order to survive.
More than anything else, Moll Flanders is the classic portrait of a woman who endures, thinks, and survives despite the plight women without wealth faced during those times: dependent on the protection of men, yet often unable to interest a man except with a promise of wealth.
DANIEL DEFOE (1660–1731) was an English writer, journalist, pamphleteer and spy, most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. A prolific writer, he wrote more than five hundred books, pamphlets and journals on various topics (including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology and the supernatural. He is best remembered for his masterworks, Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and A Journal of the Plague Year.
