Mariya is a debut novella written by emerging fiction author Milha Vek. Set in Eastern Europe, it tells the story of children who were only taught to slaughter. Mariya fled her emotionally cauterized mother after watching her absent father die. Milha immigrated to Austria after finding his father dead in a snowbank with a knife in his chest. Both knew about love but never witnessed it firsthand. After meeting in Vienna, Mariya and Milha formed an unhealthy relationship. Inheritance usually suggests something you can keep. They inherited pustota, an emptiness molded to the contours of what should have been there. Part of the Empty Mankind Series.