A return to Cyprus after loss shapes new literary debut by Matthew Phillip Long
A man returns to Cyprus after the death of his mother.
The island he arrives on is the place of his birth, but also a landscape reshaped by absence, memory and distance.
This is the starting point of Life Goes On Without You and Me, the debut novella by Matthew Phillip Long, to be published by Armida Books on 26 June 2026.
Set in Cyprus, the novella moves through coastal roads, quiet streets and familiar fragments of place, where memory surfaces in images, conversations and traces of a life no longer present. As the narrative unfolds, the act of returning becomes inseparable from the act of remembering.
The book is structured around grief and recollection, with the landscape of Cyprus functioning as both setting and emotional register. Place and memory overlap, shaping a story in which the past is not fixed but repeatedly re-encountered.
Author background
Matthew Phillip Long was born on the Dhekelia British Military Base in Cyprus and is currently based in Nicosia. His writing is rooted in questions of identity, displacement and inherited memory, often tracing how personal histories intersect with wider cultural and historical landscapes.
Life Goes On Without You and Me is his first published novella.
Early responses
Early commentary on the book highlights its thematic focus and narrative style.
Marilena Zackheos describes it as “beautiful and heartbreaking”, noting its significance within writing about Cyprus in English.
Nora Nadjarian refers to “an excavation of memory and a desperate search for meaning in the ruins of both homeland and self”, describing the work as written “with unflinching honesty”.
Dinos Toumazos characterises it as “a bold, brave, and deeply human journey”, while Alexandros Chronides highlights “moments of poetic brilliance” in its treatment of grief.
Publication details
Life Goes On Without You and Me will be released in paperback and ebook format by Armida Books.
The novella is 103 pages in length and will be published in World English.
The publication date is 26 June 2026.
Contact
Armida Books
info@armidabooks.com
www.armidabooks.com
+357 22 35 80 28