Notes on Grief

Written after the sudden loss of her beloved father in the summer of 2020, Notes on Grief unfolds against the backdrop of a world transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Separated from her family during lockdowns, Adichie confronts the shock of his passing, the pain of distance, and the unrelenting ache of a grief shared by millions that year.

She writes with precision and emotional clarity about the cultural and familial layers of mourning, and about the loneliness, anger, and love that shape it. Woven throughout are stories from her father’s life—his extraordinary survival of the Biafran War, his long career as a statistics professor, and his warm presence during the pandemic, keeping in touch with his children and grandchildren through video calls from their home in Abba, Nigeria.