The novel provides a portrait of life in Knoxville, Tennessee, showing how such a loss affects the young widow, her two children, her atheist father and the deceased alcoholic brother.

University of Tennessee professor Michael Lofaro maintains that the novel as published in 1957 was not the version intended for print by the author.

Lofaro discussed his work at a conference that was part of the Knoxville James Agee Celebration (April 2005).

Having tracked down the author's original manuscripts and notes, Lofaro reconstructed a version he considers more authentic.

This version, entitled A Death in the Family: A Restoration of the Author's Text, was published in 2007 as part of the 10-volume set The Collected Works of James Agee (University of Tennessee Press).

According to Lofaro, McDowell's alterations include: Agee won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1958 for the novel.