Fanny is the author of the letters that comprise the novel, writing about her years as a sex worker after the fact to an unnamed acquaintance. In the present of the novel, Fanny reveals at the end of Letter 2, that she is wealthy and married to Charles, with whom she has children. Because of her social position, she can reflect on her youth without shame or embarrassment. The course of the novel, then, follows Fanny’s development from innocence through the trials of sex work in London, concluding with Fanny fully developing into a wise and experienced woman at the end of the novel. Cleland’s novel paints her as a version of the hero archetype, in that Fanny is on a quest to succeed in life, love, and sexuality over the course of her tribulations in London.

The narrative of Fanny’s life shows how a young woman from the country might overcome the social, sexual, and economic barriers of English society through “vice,” highlighting the three options available to 18th-century British women: marriage, religion, and sex work. The conflict between marriage and sex work forms the foundation of Fanny’s struggles in London, as she and her friends focus more on being “kept,” or supported financially, by men, rather than marrying them.