Many of us know Moll Flanders thanks to Daniel Defoe's famous novel. But not many know that behind the fictions there are real facts. This book by Sian Rees opens a new window to enter to this character.

This engaging and well-written book is a happy combination of literary criticism and a study of Defoe’s novel Moll Flanders, a fictional biography of Moll herself, a biography of Defoe and a well-researched work of social history. The writing is clear and accessible, academic enough for the more scholarly reader but not so detailed that the general reader can’t enjoy it as well. It gives the historical background to Moll’s adventures, thus putting her life into its historical context, and makes reading the novel a much more rewarding experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it wholeheartedly, whether your interest is in history, literature or both.

In 1722, Daniel Dafoe created the woman known as Moll Flanders who, over the years, evolved in literature into a bawdy, thieving, prototype feminist. However, in the book Moll: The Life and Time of Moll Flanders, Sian Rees restores Moll to her appropriate setting, the 1600s also known as the Puritan Era, and we see her and women like Moll in a different light.

In writing a biography of this fictional character, Rees bases his research on three women that might have influenced Dafoe's writing of Moll Flanders: Mary Frith, who was called Moll Cut Purse, Mary Carleton and Moll King, a woman who lived on the streets. Through the amalgamation of these three women's lives into the character of Moll Flanders, we are able to learn about the streets of what is now London during the 1600s, life in the "New World," and what it meant to be an unmarried, untitled woman or an orphan during this time. Many of these women were labeled women of the streets, which today means prostitutes, but then meant beggars. If caught they were jailed, sometimes hung, other times sent to work in homes as maids. During this time, too often women and children were sent to "his majesty's plantations," also known as America. Most would die of starvation but Moll's "mother" and later Moll would survive.

In looking at this book, I see less of a biography of a fictional character and more of Rees using that character as a method to paint for his readers a very vivid landscape of life for women in the 1600s. As an historian, I was shocked at the amount of knowledge I gained through this very readable and often entertaining book. In addition, it had me heading back to the original novel to refresh my memory about Dafoe's Moll which always is good.

I highly recommend Moll for those who enjoy classic literature and especially for historians. It's an eclectic look at some old facts.

Moll Flanders is a great big book. My Mum read it in hospital while waiting my sister's arrival. "Be careful," said the midwife, "You might finish it."

It has of course been turned into films and TV series usually as bawdy restoration comedy. None of them especially faithful to the original. Sian Rees rectifies that by setting it in its correct period. Defoe mentions dates - not all of them accurate - but pretty much ignores the events of the period. These include the plague and Great Fire of London, the first settlements in America, the (British) civil war, and the Glorious Revolution.

What Ms Rees has done is put Moll in her correct historical period and explains in great detail the how and why of the plot. It is based on not one but a series of Molls and contemporary records mostly the interviews with the Ordinary of Newgate prison including the last words of the condemned on the gallows. The British of this time were very keen on the death penalty but then as now it did little to reduce crime. Defoe was an advocate of transportation of criminals to the colonies to reduce incidence of crime and also provide cheap labour for His Majesty's Plantations. Defoe thought that instead of wasting human potential in a system entirely concerned with punishment, a new start in the colonies would be possible for those willing to work. While there is some truth to that the reality for most was very different.

The fictional Moll crosses the Atlantic more than once and Rees produces evidence that this was not unknown, even though the penalty for returning before the end of the sentence (and for many that meant life) was death. She does indeed make her fortune as a tobacco planter but her life is a series of ups and downs and naturally she loses it. While the popular view of Moll is a strumpet, Rees views her more as an independent woman relying on her wits in a society that despite its professed Christianity is remarkably cruel.

I am not sure that most people tempted to read this book will be totally ignorant of history, but even so there will be many moments when the realisation will dawn that Moll and her contemporaries had very limited choices and down on their luck will resort to crime. Poverty is the great aid to the Devil who does indeed make appearances on these pages. The puritans get quite a hard look too - as do the settlers who mostly seem to be too incompetent to adapt to their new surroundings.

I not only downloaded "Moll" but I also got one of the many editions of Defoe's book. It was a great deal quicker to read Rees than it will be to tackle the original but that now seems more likely. And I will better understand Defoe's sometimes quaint English.

"Moll" by Sian Rees was published in North America on 20 September 2017 but appeared first in the UK in June of 2011 - and it is from that edition that I have copied the picture of the cover.

And, just to be clear, Sian Rees is not related to me.

I'm very interested in this time period but i never thought that i would enjoy the biography of a fictional character of the era.
The book is original since it mixes the life events of said fictional character with real life events.
Very enjoyable.

It's been quite a few years since last I read Moll Flanders; however, I do remember the story pretty well, and that is what prompted me to request this title from NetGalley. It was fascinating to see some of the historical figures and situations that inspired Defoe's tale, looking at the truth behind the legend, as it were. This title will appeal to those who enjoy Defoe's story, but it is also a great resource for historians interested in 17th century criminality during the age of transportation, as well as those who wish to learn more about early colonial life in America. Overall, Moll: The Life and Times of Moll Flanders is an insightful and lovely read.

An interesting idea, to write the 'biography' of a fictional character, here Defoe's Moll Flanders. Rees makes the important point that is often lost on general readers that Moll is a C17th young woman under Puritan rule, not an C18th Hogarthian. Filling out the historical, social and cultural background works well, and makes lots of points about the growth of capitalism and imperialism hand-in-hand.

Less successful, is the attempt to weave into this story a kind of biography of Defoe himself, plus the lives of real-life women who might have influenced Defoe's writing of Moll: these principally include Mary Frith (better known as Moll Cut-Purse), Mary Carleton (also known as the German Princess) and Moll King (a pick-pocket and transportee). There's been quite a lot of recent scholarly work done especially on Mary Carleton of which Rees seems to be unaware.

Nevertheless, this is a readable and entertaining account of women's lives in the C17th - and if it sends people back to Defoe's novel, that will be a bonus.