Lookaway, Lookaway/Wilton Barnhardt/359 pgs./December Challenge

Jerene Jarvis Johnston and her husband, Duke, of Charlotte, NC, represent "high society" in modern North Carolina. Jerene presides over her family's legacy of paintings at the Mint Museum. Duke, once the college "golden boy" and on the path to a political career, instead puts his energy into Civil War re-enactments. Then there is Jerene's brother, Gaston, a dissolute historical fiction novelist. Added into the mix are Jerene and Duke's children: Annie, the smart realtor, with several marriages under her belt; Bo, a minister at odds with his congregation; Joshua, the gay son; and Jerilyn, the dutiful daughter expected to follow in her mother's footsteps. It is one dysfunctional family; and while there is humor, there is an undertone of sadness for the "Old South."