The Broken Hallelujah

THE STORY

1969—Martin Carter’s plan is to survive his tour in Vietnam and return to his wife and newborn daughter. He refused his commission to keep from lying to his men, but ultimately becomes a leader to his team and to a small group of Vietnamese villagers. He must find whoever is running drugs through the camp before he can safely get home.

2019—Robin Carter’s plan is to care for her grandmother and to restart her career after a disastrous divorce. Martin’s footlocker is unexpectedly delivered to their home—he’s been missing in action for fifty years. His journals record his harrowing sixteen months in Vietnam. Robin determines to find the grandfather she never knew before her grandmother’s memories fade.

Twisting between the sounds of war in 1969 Vietnam and the domestic scenes of 2019 Houston, The Broken Hallelujah follows a quest to discover the truth, rebuild a life, and care for an aging grandmother.

Martin’s journal postings lead to his story of how a rigidly truthful man grows to embrace his team and the people in a small Vietnamese village. The horrors of war—from the fire fights to its impact on both soldiers and civilians—color Martin’s sixteen months in country. He goes to war with a black and white world view and ultimately finds that there are many shades of gray on both sides of the conflict. His rigid beliefs may ultimately lead to his demise.

Robin returned to Houston to start again. Recently divorced from her cheating professor husband, she left everything behind in Dallas, including her job and her supposed friends. She first and foremost wants to care for her grandmother, recently diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer’s. When her grandfather’s footlocker shows up, bringing home the fifty-year-old mystery of him being missing in action, she becomes fascinated with the story his journals lay out. Robin is determined to find answers to how and why Martin was MIA. Her greatest wish is to find him and bring him home while his Suse, her grandmother, is still able to find solace and closure in his homecoming.

Finding help from friends and family, including her best friend, Maryam; an investigative photojournalist, Brian; and even Greg, her hated ex-husband, Robin enlists a band of Vietnam vets who also are determined that no man be left behind. This rag tag team travels from Houston to San Francisco and eventually to the jungles of Vietnam for answers to bring a soldier home to the honor he deserves. And in the process, Robin learns much about herself and how to move to her own future, while accepting life’s many shades of gray.

The Broken Hallelujah is a heart-wrenching tale of family, the lasting impact of lies and the saving consequences of truth.