This book investigates the cultural and personal dimensions of mortality, grief, and mourning practices within the Victorian family structure from 1830 to 1920. Pat Jalland, a historian specializing in Victorian social history, utilizes an extensive archive of private correspondence, personal diaries, and commemorative death memorials to reconstruct the lived experience of bereavement. By analyzing the records of fifty-five distinct families, the author constructs a framework that contrasts the idealized 'good death' with the harsh realities of medical limitations and religious anxiety during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Historians and scholars frequently cite this work as a definitive study on the private emotional lives of Victorians regarding mortality. The text is recognized for its meticulous use of primary source data to provide a nuanced understanding of historical grief practices.