Moll Flanders

If an occasional older title is eligible for review, why not go back 250 years or more? Daniel Defoe penned “Moll Flanders” in 1722, and although “Robinson Crusoe” is better known, his follow-up story has just as much rollicking action.
It goes without saying that anything written in that day and age will have a completely different dialogue, but once immersed in the jargon of the day, the story of this woman trying to make it on her own has the elements of a great Hollywood story.
She never knew her mother, has hard luck with her husbands, and finds herself telling less than “the whole truth” in trying to improve her station. From a life that began with traveling gypsies, Moll makes herself into a woman of society, and a position of comfort and ease.
As was often the case in those days, she loses all at the death of her husband, and – having no immediate family – finds herself at the mercy of friends and their charity.
She travels across the ocean to Virginia and back again, plots and schemes, and plans again, all the while trying to land herself in a better place. Her escapades go far beyond the expectations of polite society – not only for that time – but in some cases, our own time as well. Critics of Defoe’s time branded the work as immoral, but in actuality, “Moll Flanders” was simply without morals – trying to survive in the cruel times in which she lived.
There are some improbable circumstances of the sort that might be later described as “Dickensian,” but the story has as much adventure and excitement as many of today’s bestsellers.
As with the case of many of the classic works, getting past the language of the time is the first and toughest assignment.

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