Little Weena's Flowers

As psychotherapist Louva A. Hunt read the newspaper on a typical morning in 1978, her eyes fixated on the headline "October '38 Memorable Night." It was the evening of the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast that sent many listeners into a panic.

The residents of her small town in the Texas Panhandle were terrified for a different reason. Two elderly ladies walking home from church were beaten, and one was raped by a mentally unstable black man. Louva recalled her father grabbing his guns and joining the manhunt. The rapist, Morris Norman, was arrested and swiftly sentenced to the death penalty.

After Louva began investigating the story later in life, she learned that Morris had a tough upbringing filled with violence and abuse. She suddenly saw this tragic story in a different light. Would Morris have committed those crimes if he hadn't endured such pain and suffering? If he had gotten help for his mental disabilities, would he have committed a heinous crime?

In this heart-wrenching book, Louva recalls that ill-fated night back in 1938 and analyzes the case from a psychotherapist's perspective decades later.