Two Marriages: From Paradise into Hell and Back Again

In Two Marriages: From Paradise to Hell and Back Again, Jette tells the story of her journey through love and heartbreak. The first third of the book is written from the perspective of a narrator and details Jette’s career, social life, and the betrayal by her first husband. The last two thirds, written by Jette in the first person, is a tribute to her second husband, Ernest Edward John Paradine, a former Major of the British Royal Artillery, who was honored by the Queen in 1981 with an MBE. Jette recounts the couple’s move to England and her experiences travelling with Ernest to India, Pakistan, Brunei, Singapore, and Jordan. Along the way, the reader learns of Ernest’s family secrets and Jette’s love for England and classical music. The book is a true love story and a glimpse into life in ‘third world countries’ from 1988 to 2000, with unbelievable coincidences playing a role in both Jette and Ernest’s lives.

Ina Paradine was born in East Prussia. After the fight with the Russians, she was brought up and educated in a small west German town. Later, after her father’s promotion, they moved to Gütersloh, where she passed her A levels under still terrible “Nazi” teachers. From the age of four, her father became her idol and she too studied English, music, and German and became a successful teacher and pedagogue. Socially, she engaged herself in the Gütersloh Golf-Club and was a founder member and very often club champion. Her first marriage didn’t last for long and was dissolved. She fell in love with the high-ranking British officer, Ernest Edward John Paradine MBE, and moved with him to England. They got married and they lived in Yorkshire and later close to Nottingham. Again, she built up her successful career and business as a language trainer in companies like Rolls-Royce, Mars, E.ON, Lands’ End. Her husband firstly worked for the Ministry of Defence, and shortly after for British Aerospace. Ina accompanied her husband on some of his journeys round the world to get to better know the “third world countries”. Her time in England (nearly 25 years) was the happiest time of her life until Ernest died in 2009. Numerous coincidences played a significant role in their life, family secrets were revealed and this book was written as an homage and thank you to her great husband who always motivated her immensely “to do what she liked to do”.