Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is sharing the devastation she’s feeling after losing her mum, Grace Ifeoma Adichie, months after losing her dad.

“How Does A Heart Break Twice?,” she captioned her Instagram post, which included two pictures of her and her mum, as well as a heartfelt letter.

Paying tribute to her mum, she described her as a “warm, loving, funny, kind, and quick-witted, beautiful mother. Unconditional supporter and cheerleader of her children, fun and funny, source of delicious sarcasm, style icon, so sharply observant she never missed a thing.”

She wrote of how her mother became ill and died on March 1st, her late dad’s birthday:

On Saturday her driver drove her to Mass. Sunday evening she was unwell. She was taken to a private hospital in Awka. We were worried, but a few hours later, she was better, sitting up, eating rice. On the phone I told her. “We love you, Mummy, try and rest.”

The next morning, the doctor sent an update to say she was doing even better. But moments later, he took the sudden bewildering decision to transfer her to the Teaching Hospital, she was hastily moved. He claimed the Teaching Hospital had better facilities. “Do my children know I’m being transferred?” she said to have asked. Two hours after, she arrived at the Teaching Hospital, she died. It was March 1st, my father’s birthday.