Book Review: Moll Flanders

Moll Flanders

By Daniel Defoe

Audio book read by Heather Bell produced by Naxos AudioBooks

I’ve been aware of this classic novel for my entire adult life. It was written in 1722 and is therefore one of the earliest novels I’ve ever read. Author also penned the very famous Robinson Crusoe, a book, I confess, I began once but failed to finish owing to its antique prose. Somehow, consuming this one as an audio book made the archaic language more palatable. Heather Bell’s arch tones slightly grated at the beginning but I soon got used to them and came to see them as giving the recording a pleasant “period” feel and enlivening what could be a difficult listen.

Moll Flanders - cover of the original Naxos CD

The tale, supposedly based on a true story (as was Robinson Crusoe) follows the life of a woman who may or may not be called Moll as she rises and falls and rises again through society, from her origins as the child of a convict, to an inmate of an orphanage, to a maid to gentlefolk, to wife or mistress to a succession of unsuitable men.

It’s one of those books I’ve seen so many times on library shelves and thought I should read ‘one day’ but I finally decided to give it a go because I’m aiming to write the story of the fictional Poll Furnival, a mistress to Charles II who was bought from him by a Tillingford in exchange for a number of paintings (see reference to the family history in Summer at Tillingford Hall) and thought it might provide useful background (even if it is written and set fifty years later)

I discovered there is no parallel between Defoe’s Moll and my Poll. Moll is not a courtesan and her various sexual misadventures (as they would have been seen at the time) are the result of sheer desperation and the need to survive, or sometimes of mistaken identity.

She has, and leaves or loses, a surprising number of children, most of whom just disappear into the background (or conveniently die) and very few of the characters, even her husbands, have names. This has the effect of putting the spotlight entirely on Moll, as though she were telling her tale sitting alone on a stage. Modern readers might find this narrative style a bit too blunt, but it certainly keeps the story focused and moving.

All the calamities that befall Moll are not really her fault, so I’m glad that things work out for her in the end; the reconnection in old age with her devoted adult son of her youth is particularly moving.

It’s actually quite a short book – only three and a half hours of audio – so well worth a go if you want to tick off one of those books on the ‘really ought to read that’ list.