Sometimes we find that people living around us, who may seem in every way ordinary, have led extraordinary lives.

In her family autobiography, "Journey to Paradise," Lihu'e, Kaua'i, resident Paula Zina describes a life that started cossetted in privilege in her native Indonesia. But it was a life that descended into horror during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II, and into an uncomfortable discrimination during Indonesia's postwar struggles to establish itself as a nation.

The Japanese put Zina's father in an internment camp, and the rest of the family had no money. With stores closed, there was nothing to spend it on anyway.

"The big task of survival began," she wrote. "We, the children, were taught to identify everything that was edible and everything that was poisonous. There were fruits, berries, leaves, roots, insects, slugs and so much more to be identified for consumption."

She describes some of the atrocities: a group of Chinese men who were driven into a schoolhouse and burned to death; a family member who was a spy, and whose body was cut to pieces and delivered in a box as a lesson.

After the war and independence from the Netherlands, the nation fell into civil war. She and her husband, physician Nico Zina, are both of Dutch-Indonesian ancestry and found themselves subject to distrust by people who weren't. Paula Zina describes a family split apart when some siblings decided to abandon their homeland and move to Holland to find better opportunities, while she and others stayed in Indonesia.

After their marriage, Paula, a nurse, and her husband took over a clinic on the remote island of Lembata, raising children in an environment where they grew their own food, made their own entertainment, and dealt with a remarkable range of medical problems. Eventually, the family concluded that their future would be in the United States. They initially moved to Chicago, where the elder Zinas were licensed in their respective professions, and 15 years ago to Kaua'i, where they now live.

This clearly written tale gives fascinating insight into a world that's both far away and right next door.

The book is available at www.authorhouse.com, www.amazon.com and www.bn.com.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.