Red Clay Ashes

"When a woman comes to Vietnam to cover the war, she's called a 'girl reporter.' When a man comes here, he's just called a reporter." Present-day: Who was Hazel Cerny? That's the question her daughter Bee asks herself after her mother's death upon discovering that Hazel was not the long-time recluse Bee had always thought her to be but actually an award-winning Vietnam War journalist. And that Bee's earliest years were completely different from what she had believed them to be. 1967: Hazel Cerny has always wanted more in life, more than what her small Pennsylvania town and societal norms of 1960s America were willing to offer her. Following her graduation from college, she decides to throw caution to the wind and travels to Vietnam, determined to pursue her journalistic aspirations. Through grit and luck she becomes a war reporter, making her mark in a field predominantly male, breaking down the psychological barriers and mindsets that for too long had said, "you don't belong here." From the chaotic streets of Saigon, to the tunnels of Cu Chi, to the Tet Offensive, Hazel covers it all. She becomes the type of journalist most people only dream about becoming. And encounters a love that most people only dream about finding. But with love comes loss and everything else that war often brings.