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Bruce Weeks was born in 1954 and reared in the Sandhills Region of Western South Carolina. Growing up on his father’s cotton farm in the community of Kitchins Mill in eastern Aiken County, he entered the cotton fields at an early age and worked alongside the African Americas that toiled in his father’s fields. Attending Salley Elementary School then Wagener-Salley High School, he left the area in 1972 to attend Clemson University where he met his wife, Jan Hunt. They began their life together and started a family. Then in 1996 he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education and began teaching. After 5 years in the elementary classroom, he became 'Highly Qualified’ in secondary History and taught in high school and middle school until his retirement in 2012. An avid fan of the Appalachian Trail, he has section hiked the trail from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Damascus, Virginia. He is now working on a trail hostel near his cabin in the mountains of Virginia. A resident of Townville, SC, he and his wife Jan, also a retired school teacher, have lived there for 40 years. They have two children and three grandchildren that they spoil as much as possible. Owners of Boykin Spaniels they have found good homes for many little golden eyed puppies. When not writing, Mr. Weeks works on an extended list of honey-dos.
Reviewed by Sefina Hawke for Readers' Favorite
Salleys Kitchen by Bruce Wise Weeks is a historical event/era fiction novel that would appeal most to a mixed audience of mature young adults and adults who enjoy historical fiction that focuses on the Jim Crow era in the South during the 1960s, and who do not mind explicit language, sexual situations, and some violence. The story follows a young Caucasian boy who was born to parents who never wanted children, but kept him out of moral obligation. Yet, the boy was practically raised by the African American staff and, given that it was the 1960s, the experience left the young boy in the middle of an identity crisis as he tried to reconcile the two cultures.
Salleys Kitchen by Bruce Wise Weeks is a well-written novel that stayed true to the historical period of the Jim Crow era. I personally enjoyed how the book explored the identity crisis of a young boy who had been raised mostly by his father’s workers, who were African Americans and taught him their speech patterns and culture, yet was expected to act and speak using different speech patterns and behaviors. The way that he felt more comfortable with his father’s workers than his own parents made me sad because his parents did not love him, yet I felt happy that there were people who did. There were a few scenes in the book that I found to be rather horrifying, yet historically accurate; one such scene was when one of the workers was beaten horribly with a chain for seeking help from the man who had employed him for years while others watched and did nothing to stop the beating. Overall, while there were a few moments that made me cringe, I did enjoy reading this book and I look forward to more from Bruce Wise Weeks.
