By Love Possessed was one of Cozzens's "professional novels", whose stories presented fully developed characters and placed a special emphasis on the details of their work.

It gradually emerges in the course of the story that Arthur had a brief but intense affair with Marjorie Penrose, Julius' wife, after Hope's death.

Many years earlier, a trolley line had been built in the town, and Noah Tuttle had encouraged such clients as Michael McCarthy to invest in it.

Arthur concludes that Ralph Detweiler, though selfish and cowardly, is probably innocent of the rape charge, and he expects to have the case dismissed.

As Arthur examines the records that Helen had been maintaining, he discovers that Noah has been embezzling from the trusts that he managed—this was the source of the money from the bankruptcy settlement.

Noah embezzled $200,000 from the "Orcutt bequest" and has since been manipulating the money in his trusts, robbing Peter to pay Paul while attempting to replenish the funds.

Hope Winner (deceased) - Arthur's first wife, who died giving birth to his now teenage daughter.

The flashback scene where Arthur is told the circumstances of Warren's death is set at a base similar to that of Guard of Honor, an earlier Cozzens novel.

(He is reminiscent of Lieutenant Colonel Benny Carricker, one of the key characters in Guard of Honor.)

It was on The New York Times Best Seller list for 34 weeks, holding the number-two position below Peyton Place and then number 1 for several months, before Anatomy of a Murder displaced it.

However, there was a reaction to the book itself; the extent of the positive reviews and a Time magazine September 2, 1957, cover story about Cozzens, "The Hermit of Lambertville".

Julius Penrose's extended disquisition on Catholicism, and the absurdity of Marjorie's friend named Mrs. Pratt (her explanation of "things" to Arthur) both led to charges of anti-Catholicism.

Macdonald's review did not prevent the American Academy of Arts and Letters from awarding By Love Possessed the William Dean Howells Medal in 1960, for the most prestigious work of fiction in the last five years.

However, the Commentary article itself became a significant part of American literary history, as it resulted in By Love Possessed being best known to many people from Macdonald's review.