The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders (commonly known as Moll Flanders) is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1721, after he had become a recognised novelist, with the success of Robinson Crusoe.
Moll Flanders's mother is a convict in Newgate Prison in London who is given a reprieve by "pleading her belly," a reference to the custom of staying the executions of pregnant criminals. Her mother is eventually transported to America, and Moll Flanders (not her birth name, she emphasizes, taking care not to reveal it) is raised until adolescence by a goodly foster mother, and then gets attached to a household as a servant where she is loved by both sons, the elder of whom convinces her to "act like they were married" in bed, yet eventually unwilling to marry her, he persuades her to marry his younger brother. After five years of marriage, Moll Flanders then is widowed, leaves her children in the care of in-laws, and begins honing the skill of passing herself off as a fortuned widow to attract a man who will marry her and provide her with security. The first time Moll Flanders does this, her "gentleman-tradesman" spendthrift husband goes bankrupt and flees to the Continent, leaving her on her own with his blessing to do the best she can and forget him. (They had one child together, but it died.) The second time, she makes a match that leads her to Virginia with a kindly man who introduces her to his mother. After three children (one dies), Moll Flanders learns that her mother-in-law is actually her biological mother, which makes her husband her half-brother. (Summary by Wikipedia)