Set during the 17th century in England and the American Colonies, Moll Flanders is the story of the eponymous heroine whose life makes her a prostitute, confidence trickster, and convict over the course of nearly seven decades. Moll's life takes her through nearly the full gamut of English society, from the gutter to the comforts of wealth, and is a prototypical roguish narrative made unusual by its early authorship and by its female protagonist.