She is currently a member of the English faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences at Emory University,[4] and recently returned to her hometown of Atlanta after a decade in New York City.

[8] She has received many fellowships, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and United States Artists.

This novel, which was written while Jones was a graduate student at Arizona State University, is based on her experience as a child in Atlanta during that period.

Described in Publishers Weekly as Jones's "deep-felt second novel", the book examines how the protagonist comes to terms with the loss of key members of her family as a child before having to redefine herself all over again in her mid-twenties.

[28][29][30] An American Marriage is about an African-American couple whose lives are shaken when the husband, Roy, is arrested for a crime he did not commit.

[34] A major theme in Jones's writing is family, as seen in Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, and An American Marriage.

Tina McElroy Ansa has written about the success that Jones has found in accurately portraying the character of families.

[37] An American Marriage was written as a result of Jones researching the problems surrounding mass incarceration in the United States, and its impact on black men and women.

[38] Jones has spoken about Toni Morrison's influence on her work, specifically Song of Solomon for its portrayal of the black middle-class and characterization of female characters.

[8] In February 2018, Oprah Winfrey announced that her latest book club pick was Jones’s novel An American Marriage.