Daniel Defoe 
Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress [PDF ebook] 
Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, Afterwards Call’d the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany, Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II

British writer Daniel Defoe is credited with being one of the first writers to dabble in longer-form fiction, eventually leading to the development of the novel format. His final work, published anonymously, follows the life of a remarkable woman who flouts the social strictures of the eighteenth century and takes up with a series of men in order to ensure the survival of her family — but always on her own terms and in a manner consistent with her own unique code of ethics.