A Dragon Debut of Murder Mystery Intrigue

Author and Dragon Alumna Suzanne Scott Tomita (Class of 1999) attended JIS from 1981 to 1984, completing Grades 6 through 8. Her time as a JIS student may have been brief, but she remembers it as deeply impactful both academically and personally.

She is now a fundraising and alumni engagement professional, serving as Head of Development for Singapore's Duke-NUS Medical School. A writer at heart, she cultivated her love of reading and literature during her years at JIS and has since published essays on motherhood and expat life. Most recently, she celebrated the release of her debut novel, Until Even the Angels.

In 2023, Suzanne returned to the Cilandak campus for an IASAS tournament — this time as a proud parent — when her daughter represented Singapore American School (SAS). The visit offered her the chance to reflect on how much JIS had shaped her journey as a student, artist, and now, an author.

In her own words, she shares with us her JIS journey and how it came full circle.

Formative Years in Jakarta

I attended JIS for Grades 6, 7, and 8 before my family was posted to Canada and then to Australia, where I completed my high school at Canberra Girls Grammar School. My father was a diplomat with the Canadian Foreign Service, and we lived in Tunisia, Venezuela, Germany, Indonesia, and Australia.

Even though I attended JIS for such a short time, it was a formative experience for me.
Interestingly, I was at JIS for IASAS in 2023, when my daughter was the Varsity Girls Co-Captain for SAS. It was a wonderful opportunity to show her where I had attended school.

A Fountain of Inspiration

JIS gave me a tremendous education where I was encouraged by teachers, like my Grade 6 teacher Ms. V. Rech and my Grade 8 Algebra teacher Ms. Stamp. I was involved in musical theater, choir, drama, and strings. Ms. Caulfield in Grade 8 English class turned me into a reader and exposed me to creative writing. My best friends were Shaheen Mistri and Natalie La Voie.

I remember feeling transformed when I watched the JIS high school performance of the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder. I was amazed that a piece of theatre could affect me so much. Living in Jakarta in the early 1980s, I experienced the richness of Indonesian culture while changing from girl to young woman. Life in Jakarta felt alive, and every day was an adventure.

Coming Full Circle

I was born with a heart defect, and I was unable to play competitive sports, so at JIS I turned to music, theater, and creative writing.

Returning in 2023 was a full-circle moment as my daughter walked up the same steps of the old theater that I did 40 years ago!

I remember the feeling of each rise between each step with butterflies in my stomach before a solo on stage, and this time, I watched as my daughter and her teammates hoisted high their gold trophy, and my daughter won a medal for modelling good sports leadership.

I wish I knew where Mrs. Caulfield is now, as she definitely exposed me to the love of reading and literature.

Debut Novel

Until Even the Angels is a story of sacrifice, betrayal, and vengeance set in a 1950s post-colonial Singapore and modern-day London, where dark truths reveal themselves amid the fractured bonds of friends who have endured.

When successful London real estate agent Isabelle Goh is left close to death in an attempted assassination, Detective Ayesha Nur begins a case that not only brings her face-to-face with her own demons, but sends her on a journey to unravel Goh’s long-hidden secrets.