Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders — LibriVox Audiobook

This synopsis covers the underlying book linked to this recording: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders. Recording-specific abridgements, added material or adaptation changes have not been verified.

“Moll Flanders” informs the reader that this is not her real name, but an alias to protect her identity for legal reasons. She details her birth in Newgate Prison to a mother who delayed execution by “pleading her belly”, a custom of postponing death by claiming pregnancy. After giving birth, Moll’s mother is given a reprieve on her sentence and transported to British America instead, while Moll ends up with a travelling Romani family, from whom she escapes in the city of Colchester. A three year old Moll is placed in the care of a kind Nurse, who encourages her dreams of becoming a gentlewoman.
After her Nurse dies, a teenage Moll becomes the servant of a wealthy family. She is seduced by the family’s eldest son, who promises to marry her when he comes into his inheritance. However, after the youngest son, Robin, unexpectedly confesses his love for Moll, the eldest son reneges on his promise and convinces his parents to approve the marriage. A devastated Moll marries Robin and has several children.
Robin dies five years later. Moll leaves their children in the care of her in-laws and moves to London, where she passes herself off as a wealthy widow to attract a husband who can provide her with financial security. She marries a spendthrift tradesman and has another child who dies in infancy. After giving Moll a life of luxury, her husband runs afoul of his creditors and flees to France, instructing Moll to remarry as if he were dead. Moll takes refuge in the Mint and first begins to use the name “Moll Flanders”. She befriends a young woman, who she helps to win back the affections of a man who had recently spurned her. The woman in turn introduces Moll to a wealthy Captain who owns a plantation in Virginia, and Moll is soon married once again.
Moll and her husband emigrate to his plantation, where she is introduced to his mother. After three more children, one of whom dies, Moll learns that her mother-in-law is actually her own biological mother, which makes her husband her half-brother. At the urging of her mother, Moll keeps the information to herself, but emotionally withdraws from her marriage. This drives her husband into depression until Moll is forced to reveal the truth to him. They agree to dissolve the marriage and Moll returns to England, leaving her children in Virginia.
Moll moves to Bath to seek another husband, where she befriends a married gentleman whose wife has been confined due to insanity. Their relationship becomes sexual, and Moll falls pregnant. She becomes a kept woman, with her gentleman paying for lodgings in Hammersmith as she gives birth to their son. However, the gentleman later survives a near-fatal illness and breaks off their arrangement. Moll leaves their son in his care, assured he will be well looked after.
While masquerading as a wealthy widow in London, Moll attempts to lure a bank clerk into marriage, but learns he is already married to an adulterous woman. Moll then befriends a woman who takes her on a trip to Lancashire, where she is introduced to the woman’s brother, a supposedly wealthy gentleman named Jemmy. Moll and Jemmy marry, with his sister attesting to Moll’s fictitious fortune. While planning to move to Jemmy’s estate in Ireland, each realises that the other is actually poor, and that they have both been misled by Jemmy’s “sister”, who is in reality merely an acquaintance. Jemmy discharges Moll from their marriage on the grounds of his destitution, but Moll realises she has fallen in love with him. They spend a month in each other’s company before eventually parting ways, with Jemmy assuring Moll she will inherit any money he should ever make.
Shortly afterward, Moll discovers she is pregnant with Jemmy’s child. She returns to London and takes on the services of a Governess, who gives Moll a tripartite scale of the costs of bearing a child. After Moll gives birth, her Governess sees to it that her child is taken into the care of a countrywoman in exchange for a sum of £5 per year. Moll then resumes communications with the bank clerk, and learns he has divorced his wife. They are married in a rushed wedding ceremony, but the following morning Moll witnesses Jemmy fleeing the scene of a highway robbery. Moll and her fifth husband live in happiness for several years, until he unexpectedly loses his entire fortune and dies of despair. The fates of their two children together are left unstated.
Now desperate, Moll slips into a life of thievery in order to make ends meet. She reunites with her old Governess, who has retired from her former career to become a fence for stolen goods. Moll avoids arrest for many years, gaining infamy among her peers. She briefly becomes the lover of a married gentleman she had previously robbed. Moll is later mistakenly arrested for a theft that she did not commit, and earns a large settlement after she is proven innocent. Moll earns a small fortune from her crimes.
Moll is eventually caught attempting to steal from a house and is sent to Newgate, where she is sentenced to death. She maintains contact with her Governess, who blames herself for Moll’s predicament. Moll befriends a prison chaplain and convinces him of her repentance - the sincerity of which is left ambiguous - leading the chaplain to petition for Moll’s sentence to be reduced to transportation. At the same time, Moll reunites with Jemmy, who has been arrested for crimes he committed both before and after their marriage; she convinces him to request transportation so that they may resume their marriage and start a new life together.
Moll arranges for her Governess to send half of her fortune aboard their ship in the form of goods, but asks that she to hold back the rest for the time being. She talks the captain into letting her and Jemmy stay in a private cabin away from the other convicts, who are sold into slavery upon arrival. A Quaker helps Moll and Jemmy establish a small plantation near Maryland.
Moll learns that her mother has died. Her husband/brother is now blind and infirmed, and has moved with their surviving son to a plantation in Virginia. Moll cautiously introduces herself to her son and is met with open arms, and discovers that her mother has left her an inheritance of a plantation which her son will manage, providing Moll with an income of £100 per year. Moll makes him her heir, gifting him a stolen gold watch.
Moll has her Governess come over with the remainder of her fortune, making Moll extremely wealthy. After her husband/brother dies, Moll tells Jemmy the story of their relationship and introduces him to her son. To Moll’s surprise, Jemmy is understanding - “For, said he, it was no fault of yours, nor of his; it was a mistake impossible to be prevented.” In 1683, an elderly Moll concludes her narrative by revealing she and Jemmy are preparing to return to England to live “in sincere penitence for the wicked lives we have lived”.