The World I Could Not Yet See is a collection of short memoirs about growing up, first in communist Romania and then inside the strange, uncertain freedom that followed. Through music heard through static, bootleg films, games, books, secret notebooks, first love, anger, loneliness and heartbreak, a boy begins to understand both the world around him and the worlds forming inside him. These are stories about childhood and adolescence without nostalgia's soft filter: the wonder, cruelty, humour, longing and small wounds that quietly shape a person. Somewhere between a black-and-white television, the Black Sea, imagined romances and words hidden from prying eyes, a writer begins to emerge.

Cherry blossom lipstick: check Smokey eyes: check Skinny jeans: check Dead kid in the mirror: check For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway, this is her normal everyday routine. She's been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too. Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. There's a little glitch this time. The ghost she sees is her foster sister, Sally. Everyone thinks she's just another runaway. Mattie knows the truth, though-she's dead, murdered. Foster kids look out for each other and Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can't do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young police officer and together they set out to discover the truth of Sally's disappearance. Now the killer has set his sights on her. It becomes a race to see if she can find the truth before the serial killer finds her.

This is a rough draft. If you like it so far I'll make it better.