Salad Days

Women's Fiction and Contemporary Romance

When their beloved high school alma mater, St. Vincent, announces its closure, a group of Chinese-Indonesian women return to Jakarta for a final reunion. In high school, Rosie, Bailey, Inez, Wendy, Nat, and Anna were inseparable. Their bond remained strong even when careers and marriages pulled them across continents—until Bailey's untimely death sent Rosie spiraling. Rather than face her grief, Rosie chose to cut herself off from her friends. When the invitation to the reunion arrives years later, her friends urge her to return from London, not only for the grand event but also for the life and relationships she abandoned.

For Rosie, returning is both sweet nostalgia and a reckoning. Feeling guilty after breaking the bond in her friend group, she is determined to make things right and finally grief the loss she fled. The reunion is also a chance to reconnect with Ben, her first love and biggest heartbreak, and unravel the reason behind their failed romance in high school.

Deep down, Rosie knows that reconciling her past comes at the price of the life she has built in London: a marriage and motherhood she cherished for being stable, yet has left her feeling stagnant. Coming home could cost her the security she's created. Staying away may mean losing herself entirely.

SALAD DAYS is a women's fiction novel with multi-POV narration and a dual-timeline alternating between high school and the present day. With its international setting and exploration of female friendship, it will appeal to readers who enjoyed Elise Juska's Reunion, Elyssa Friedland's The Most Likely Club, and Jesse Q. Sutanto's The Good, The Bad, and the Aunties, particularly its Indonesian cultural background.