The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes

A Mother's Story

“A heartbreaking, disturbing, and truly courageous story of one mother’s fight to save her son” (Alice Hoffman, New York Times–bestselling author).

Randi Davenport’s young son, Chase, kept having problems, but a diagnosis proved elusive. Some said it was autism, others, ADHD—but as time went by, the problems only increased. She worked hard to provide her family with a sense of stability and strength, but her husband’s erratic behavior only made the situation worse.

Eventually, James Davenport slipped into his own world, leaving his wife and kids behind. At fifteen, Chase entered an unremitting psychosis—pursued by terrifying images, unable to recognize his own mother, unwilling to eat or even talk.

This is the heartbreaking yet triumphant story of how a single mother navigated the byzantine and broken health care system, and managed to not just save her son from the brink of suicide, but bring him back to her and make her family whole again. The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes is “an unforgettable memoir of a shattered family, a mother’s abiding love, and the frightening permutations of the human mind” (Elle).

“A gripping and deeply compelling book about a mother’s search for the proper care and treatment for her psychotic son. Davenport shows us the gritty and enraging reality of our long fractured mental health system . . . The best book I’ve read about mental illness since Kay Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind.” —Virginia Holman, author of Rescuing Patty Hearst: Growing Up Sane in a Decade Gone Mad

“A brave and beautiful story by a born writer . . .This book is like a beacon, offering clarity, inspiration, and validation for us all, especially those of us, like myself, who have struggled with serious mental illness in our families.” —Lee Smith, author of Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger