Character Interview of "Goldie Hatfield" & Giveaway

Welcome to the Overcoming with God blog, Goldie Hatfield and your creator, Darlene Franklin. Goldie is the heroine in Darlene’s novella “His Golden Treasure” in The Captive Brides Collection from Barbour (October, 2017).

CFP: Thank you for the interview, Goldie Hatfield (and Darlene). First of all can you tell us a little about yourself?  

DF: I’m in SanFrancisco and born of the gold fields.

CFP: When was that, Goldie? SanFran gold fields

DF: I was born in the 1850s after the rush. SanFrancisco was a booming town. My mom was a prostitute.

CFP: I’m sorry to hear that, Goldie. What can you tell me about your earliest memories? 

DF: My mother singing to me, the Chinese cook at the house where born being with me.

CFP: What a difficult situation, though. 

DF: I was fortunate we weren’t in the “cribs” by the docks. We were in a high-end house on what was later known as Maiden Lane--Miss Amelia’s House of Pleasure

CFP: What was it like growing up there?

DF: I had a loving mother who tried to protect me and teach me a little about God. I had a supportive friend in our Chinese cook. I learned to read and write. I had about as normal a childhood as I could have in that setting. I had some awareness of what was going on but I didn’t participate. People at Amelia’s said I have a beautiful voice. I was always singing and my mother encouraged me. This became my livelihood. I would sing as part of the entertainment.

CFP:What happened that caused you to become captive?

DF: After my mom died, when I was sixteen, the house kept me there but didn’t ask for anything except for me to sing in evenings. I stayed at Miss Amelia’s and I could also obtain necessary items in a nearby store. At eighteen I was told it was  time to “pay the piper.” I  was ready to leave but I was told I couldn’t until I’d pay off my keep.

 CFP: That’s awful!

DF: It was even worse than that. They were going to hold an auction for someone to have me for the first time.

CFP: What was your emotional reaction to that horrific situation. 

DF: I thought, absolutely not, I can’t do that. But if I tried to get away they’d drag me back. The cook offered me support and covered for me a few times for me to attend church. I ran into a preacher in the street who had invited me.  I asked the minister to help me and he talked with my boss at the store but. . . I think my boss was in on this scheme, too.

CFP: Did the minister help you? And what was his background?

DF: The preacher’s father had been one of the worst original people in SanFrancisco with  gambling, prostitution, and he made a fortune in gold. His father went home to the East coast and gave his family his fortune. But his son and daughter came back to SanFrancisco determined to help undo the harm their father had done.

CFP:Having been betrayed how does Goldie get her trust back?

DF: I realized that kind of woman Madame Amelie was and I’d never entirely trusted her.  It wasn’t a total surprise. But I wanted to deny what might happen.  I could see the bad coming but wanted to close my mind to it.

CFP:What has been your biggest thing to overcome? 

DF: Being able to trust a man and to trust God. To trust God can work this out when the bidding was about to start. How do you act with grace in that type of situation? I didn’t know how. And in the 1870s the law wasn’t reliable as far as helping me.

Best-selling hybrid author, Darlene Franklin's greatest claim to fame is that she write full-time from a nursing home. She published her fiftieth book in July 2017. You can find out more about her at her website and on her Facebook author page. 

						Giveaway: Darlene is graciously giving away a copy of The Captive Brides. Ask Goldie a question or leave a comment to enter.