Daniel Defoe's novel about a woman who overcomes poverty to become wealthy and successful is another of his universally popular tales of outcasts and outsiders. Abandoned by her husband, Roxana farms out her five children and supports herself by becoming the mistress of her wealthy landlord, then a French prince, a rich merchant, Charles II, and an English lord. She amasses a fortune and disdains marriage until, later in her life, she finally accepts the suit of one of her lovers and retires to Holland with her husband. Unlike Moll Flanders, Defoe's other rags-to-riches heroine, Roxana doesn't abandon her dissolute life when it is no longer economically necessary; she sinks deeper into it, and ends up haunted by guilt and remorse.